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Geographical Region: Asia

Festival Headline News

Cartoons on the Bay Festival Unveils its Program

The 4th edition of Cartoons On The Bay, the International Festival of

Television Animation, will be held in Positano (Amalfi Coast), Italy,

April 14-18, 2000. Cartoons on the Bay is the only festival in the

world solely dedicated to television animation. Promoted by Rai

Radiotelevisione Italiana and conceived and organized by Rai Trade,

the festival is an international event with awards, workshops,

lectures and events centering on the ever-changing world of

India Headline News

India Reincarnates Dead Stars

In Chennai, India, Penta Media, 3D Max Media and Hewlett Packard have announced plans to produce a film, STARWAY, which will star two deceased Indian actors, brought back to life through CGI. The TIMES OF INDIA reported that no decision has been made on which stars would be reincarnated as themselves. In regards to ethical concerns, the newspaper published a comment from S. Rangarajan, director of special effects at Media Dreams: "This mixing of the real and unreal has a dangerous dimension.

Japan Headline News

PlayStation 2 Jumps Off Shelves In Japan

In its first weekend on the market in Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s PlayStation 2 has reached 980,000 units sold. This initial sales milestone blows away the original PlayStation's three-day mark in 1994 by nearly 10 times. A total of 26,400 retailers in Japan, including 18,500 convenience stores, approximately 7,900 retail stores, current PlayStation retailers, as well as PlayStation.com (Japan) Inc., began selling the PlayStation 2 units on March 4.

Story Headline News

Toy Story 2 Scores Mucho Yen In Japan

Over the weekend beginning Friday, March 10, 2000, TOY STORY 2 made history in Japan by grossing US$3.8 million on only 364 screens to become the biggest opening for a U.S. animated film in Japan and finishing #1 at the box office. The Buena Vista International release crushed the old record set by Disney's THE LION KING by nearly 80%. Woody and Buzz more than doubled this weekend's debut of the 21st installment of the Japanese animated feature series, DORAEMON.

Channel Headline News

New Nursery Net Hops Into Homes In Israel

Recently, Gold Zebra Communications launched its new preschool network Hop! The Israeli Nursery Channel. The net airs daily from 6 am to 7 pm catering toward the youngest viewers. The completely non-violent content has been acquired from producers in Europe and the States. Recently, Hop! appeared at the Monte Carlo Television Market to promote and attach new content for the fledgling channel. For more information contact Gold Zebra Communications Ltd. at: 7 Harugei Malchut St. Tel-Aviv 69714 Isreal; Tel.: ++972-3-649-6228; Fax: ++972-3-649-6229; or E-mail: zebracom@internet-zahav.net.

Headline News

Ottawa 2000 Presents Selection and Jury Members

The Ottawa 2000 Independent Film Competition will be selected by

festival organizers. The Commissioned Films Competition will be

selected by Curtis Crawford (Canada), Chris Landreth (US), Pjotr

Sapegin (Russia) and Andrei Svislotski (Russia). The Ottawa 00

International Jury will be comprised of Suzanne Gervais (Canada),

Wendy Jackson Hall (US), John Hays (US), Priit Parn (Estonia) and Jin

Guo Ping (China). Jury member bios are now available on the festival

Animation Headline News

A Closer Look: Are Schools Selling Out?

Two weeks ago, AtomFilms announced that it has locked the first-ever,

exclusive, on-line distribution deal with the University of Southern

California (USC) School of Cinema-Television to broadcast student

films from the illustrious film school's catalog, giving USC students

a worldwide public venue for showcasing their work. As part of the

deal, for the next 18 months, USC will provide AtomFilms with

exclusive on-line distribution rights to 100 student titles which

Festival Headline News

WAC Director Leaves Festival

Two months before the WORLD ANIMATION CELEBRATION opens, festival director TRACY CROSSLEY has left "to pursue other interests." WAC has appointed a new director Danielle Robertson. "The team we have assembled to produce this year's event has an incredible amount of festival experience and has banded together to produce a memorable experience for everyone involved," said Robertson. "We appreciate the contributions Tracy had made and wish her the very best in all her future endeavors."

World Headline News

Those Who Hunt Elves Chapter 6 Stumbles Into Stores

THOSE WHO HUNT ELVES CHAPTER 6: FINAL TRIALS invades homes across the U.S.

With new cameras, designer furniture and gourmet coffee, the elven world is

slowly looking more like planet Earth. Unfortunately, other earthly

standards have invaded the peaceful world like shady political takeovers,

diabolical plots against the elf hunters, and a crooked court out to

convict our heroes. Will Celcia betray them on the witness stand? Will

Ritsuko ever get a chance to graduate? Will Airi get home to claim her

Production Headline News

New Jobs: Production Management, Animators, Artists and much, much more

Big Idea Productions, producers of the popular children's video collection

"Veggie-mania," is looking for a VICE PRESIDENT of PRODUCTION. . . Wam!Net

is seeking a PRODUCTION MANAGER to be responsible for managing a large

scale render farm and supporting production from Visual Effects Studios,

post-production facilities and design/engineering groups working remotely

via the company's network. . . New Zealand's Weta Digital seeks world-class

Disney Headline News

Disney's Go A Sleeping Giant

On Tuesday, February 22, 2000, Disney chairman-CEO Michael Eisner made the

announcement: "With Go.com, I believe we are now the sleeping giant of the

Internet. Once streaming video is commonplace," he added, "Disney is ready

with a vast library and the ability to create new content." Added Go.com

chairman Steve Bornstein: "I see a time, in the next few years, or even

sooner, where nobody will talk about television or the Internet separately.

They will become one synergistic, fused media." In scheduled business,

Cartoon Headline News

Cartoon Seminar

By Rick DeMott | Thursday, February 24, 2000 at 12:00am

* Thursday, March 9, 2000 - Saturday, March 11, 2000. Madrid, Spain.

Cartoon, the European producers organization, will present a seminar on

"how to negotiate with the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and Japan."

Discussions will focus on the structures, customs and constraints of the

fore mentioned markets. After an introduction on each country, the various

policies on international co-productions will be discussed. A question and

Movie Headline News

Catch Pokemon: The First Movie On Video

On March 21, 2000, POKEMON: THE FIRST MOVIE will hit stores across the U.S.

Every DVD and video will feature a sneak preview of this summer's new

theatrical film POKEMON THE MOVIE 2000 plus THE STORY OF MEWTWO'S ORIGIN.

To promote the video release, five special "Golden Tickets" will be

included in random VHS packages. The five lucky recipients will win a

first-edition starter set of Team Rocket game cards, a trip for two to

Japan, a meeting with Mr. Ishihara, creator of the POKEMON card game and a

Time Headline News

Former Time Inc. Pres., Marcom New VP At AtomFilms

ATOMFILMS, a leader in next-generation entertainment, announced that JOHN

MARCOM, former President of Time Inc. International, will join as the new

senior VP of worldwide revenue and media strategies. In his new role,

Marcom will coordinate worldwide on-line and off-line sales of AtomFilms'

growing library of short-form entertainment. During his stint at Time Inc.,

Marcom oversaw a catalog of more than a dozen national and international

news, business and lifestyle publications. Joining Time Inc. in 1993,

Million Headline News

Toy Story 2: The Buzz In The UK

Opening the weekend of February 11, 2000 in the U.K., TOY STORY 2 has

already broken box office records. Playing on 495 screens, the sequel

grossed US$12.8 million in its first three days. The feat even beat out

bohemeth-grossing STAR WARS EPISODE 1, which made only $12.5 million in its

first U.K. weekend. So far Buena Vista International, which is distributing

the film outside the U.S., said the movie has already grossed $332 million

worldwide. Playing on 3,334 screens outside the U.S. this past weekend, TOY

Animation Headline News

The Acrobat Issue of Animation World Magazine Is Now On-line!

February is our annual motion-capture and stop-motion issue, and we have

plenty in store as usual. Sharon Schatz interviews Brian Nilles of leading

motion-capture technology firm, Vicon Motion Systems. Gregory Singer goes

behind the scenes on one of the many projects which uses Vicon's

technology, while Laura Schiff introduces us to Webbie Tookay, a new

motion-capture personality. On the stop-motion side of things, Wendy

Jackson covers Aardman Animations' current high flying times as they work

Film Headline News

Animha Calls for Children's Drawings

Animha Productions, a unique association of professionals dedicated to

independent film production and animation workshops, is working on a peace

film project created by Prakash Moorthy in India and Animha's Dave

Brunskill in England. The film will include single drawings and paintings

done by 5-7 year-old children from around the world, and all children are

invited to participate. The subject is "a mother sending her child to

school." Drawings should reflect the national identity of the child, using

Animation Headline News

A Closer Look: Fox's Tribulations in the Feature Production World

Two years ago, following the theatrical release of "Anastasia," Fox was

expanding its commitment to animation. Fox Family Films, one of Twentieth

Century Fox's four film divisions, was being renamed Fox Animation Studios,

to reflect the division's new plan to focus solely on animated feature

films, including stop-motion, mixed media (live-action mix) and digital

production. Several animated projects were on the development slate then,

including "Dark Town" with Henry Selick, "Santa Calls" with Blue Sky|VIFX,

Headline News

Moss Fills New President Seat At CINAR

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 12:00am

CINAR ENTERTAINMENT has filled the newly created seat of president with

PETER MOSS. In his position effective March 1, Moss will focus on

developing CINAR's entertainment business in North America, Latin America

and Asia. Before joining CINAR, Moss served as programming and production

VP for YTV, Canada's youth network. Moss has regularly worked in pre-school

programming with the Children's Television Network and the CBC.

Million Headline News

Pixar's 4th Quarter Flies To Infinity & Beyond

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 9, 2000 at 12:00am

On February 3, 2000, Pixar reported financial results for its fiscal fourth

quarter and year ending January 1, 2000. For the quarter, Pixar posted

record profits of US$9.6 million, or $0.19 per diluted share. These results

are compared to profits of $1.1 million, or $0.02 per diluted share,

achieved in the 4th quarter of 1998. Revenues for the quarter were $24.9

million, compared with $3.1 million a year-ago. For the year, Pixar held

profits of $49.2 million, or $0.99 per diluted share, compared with $7.8

Series Headline News

Amy Tan's Sagwa Purring On PBS

By Rick DeMott | Wednesday, February 9, 2000 at 12:00am

In association with Children's Television Workshop and IF/X Productions,

CineGroupe will be producing 40 half-hour episodes of SAGWA, THE CHINESE

SIAMESE CAT for PBS KIDS. The series is adapted from the award-winning

children's book by Amy Tan, author of THE JOY LUCK CLUB. SAGWA follows the

title character's escapades through Ancient China. Each episode will

include 11-minute segments and related interstitials woven together by

music, folk stories and fairy tales. The executive producers of the project

Animation Headline News

The February Issue of Animation World Magazine Is Now On-line!

February is our annual motion-capture and stop-motion issue, and we have

plenty in store as usual. Sharon Schatz interviews Brian Nilles of leading

motion-capture technology firm, Vicon Motion Systems. Gregory Singer goes

behind the scenes on one of the many projects which uses Vicon's

technology, while Laura Schiff introduces us to Webbie Tookay, a new

motion-capture personality. On the stop-motion side of things, Wendy

Jackson covers Aardman Animations' current high flying times as they work

Studio Headline News

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

STARDUST ENTERTAINMENT FILMPRODUKTION is a studio located in

Berlin-Potsdam, Germany, specializing in computer animation (3D) and visual

effects. The CGI studio is equipped with the most advanced wireless

motion-capture system by Motion Analysis. In addition to its staff of 50

CGI professionals from 15 different countries, currently based at the

studio in Germany, Stardust Entertainment is cooperating with CGI studios

in Romania, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Asia. Currently in production on a 26

Kids Headline News

Scandinavia Surrenders To Pokemania

Three new Scandinavian markets surrendered their airwaves to Pokemania.

Worldwide sensation POKEMON was recently sold to TV4 in Sweden, TV2 in

Denmark and TV2 in Norway. The show will hit the new territories in January

and February 2000. Lacey Entertainment, the international distributors of

the series, also announced the sale of the Pikachu-vehicle to ATV in Turkey

and Noga Communications' Children's Channel in Israel. In Europe, POKEMON

began broadcasting in September 1999 on Germany's RTL2, The Netherlands'

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