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Design studio B1 Media, which currently includes DVD and gaming divisions and a broadcast design arm, has formed B1 Productions to produce featurettes and documentaries for DVDs and content for television. As part of this new division, producers Brent Zacky and Erin Zelle have been brought on board. In addition to producing duties, Zacky and Zelle will be involved in B1's move into the production arena by developing properties for cable and network television clients. Zacky was most recently a supervising producer, writer and director with Van Ness Films.

Aliens are proving to be big box office this summer, as MEN IN BLACK II debuts at number one, and LILO AND STITCH breaks the $100M mark after three weeks. MEN IN BLACK II, the sequel to the 1997 blockbuster, has taken in a record-breaking total of $90M since its Wednesday, July 4 debut, knocking last week's number one film MR. DEEDS, to second with $18.8M for the weekend and $74M to date.

3D product developer Immersion Corporation has announced its MicroScribe Connections for Maya software, a new digitizing plug-in designed to streamline workflow and increase design performance and productivity, will be available beginning July 22, 2002. MicroScribe Connections for Maya is the first in a new series of plug-ins from Immersion. According to the company, these plug-ins will allow animators, game developers and industrial designers who use both Maya and MicroScribe to digitize and render 3D models, animated characters and digital content easily.

E-magicians - The European Gathering of Young Digital Creation.

Valenciennes, France.

Wednesday, November 20 to Friday, November 22, 2002.

Entry Deadline: Tuesday, October 15, 2002.

Spanish production companies MSL and Grupo Trimagen have recently signed a joint venture agreement to create animated programming. The new international company, MSL-TRIMAGEN, will develop, produce and market a wide range of animated series and feature films. The company is currently working at the head offices in Madrid and Barcelona on several projects, including BUNNIBAL, a 26 x 13-minute animated series currently in pre-production.

pmG Worldwide LLC has spent the last two years refining and redesigning its LightWave plug-in project: messiah 1.5 into messiah:animate, its new stand alone animation software. This new version has the ability to run alone or connect to 3D Studio Max, Maya and LightWave. messiah: animate has added new technologies and enhancements including messiah:compose, pmG's non-linear animation editor.

Five European short films, selected from a list of awarded films screened at leading European animation festivals, will be competing for the 2002 Cartoon d'Or. The Cartoon d'Or will be given during Cartoon Forum's closing evening, Saturday, September 21, 2002. The nominees are:

HOME ROAD MOVIES - Robert Bradbrook (UK) 2001

3D Animation - 11 minutes 40 seconds

Production : Finetake (UK)

Annecy Festival 2002: Jury Special Prize

Animated Encounters 2002, Bristol Festival: Audience Awards (2nd prize)

London-based visual effectsfacility The Mill recently completed visual effects work for thelatest Guinness commercial "Lava" by way of agency AMV. DirectorRupert Sanders shot the spot on location in Poland. In thecommercial, a small village is hit by an exploding volcano and lavaflows through the streets. People are fleeing their homes but thelocal bar is in jeopardy, so the townsmen head off to save it. Theymanage to stop the flow of hot lava but must walk across it to get