The Australian Effects & Animation Festival (AEAF) kicks off its four-day festival on December 1, 2002 with the Australian premiere of Disney's TREASURE PLANET. The festival, which runs from December 1-4, 2002 in Sydney, NSW, Australia, will also present numerous panels featuring some of the world's most innovative visual effects and animation houses.
The 7th edition of Cartoons On The Bay, International Festival of Television Animation, will be held in Positano, Italy on April 9-13, 2003. Cartoons on the Bay is an international event with awards, workshops, lectures and events centering on the ever-changing world of television animation. The Pulcinella Awards Competition is open to all products in animation for television and the Internet, including pilots of series. In 2003, the Competition will also be open to short-films not produced, coproduced or pre-acquired by a television company. Works completed after the 1st of January 2002 and created with any kind of animation technique may participate. The various Pulcinella Awards are presented to eight competing categories including best series for infants, children, young adults & adults, all audiences, best pilot, best TV movie, best short film, best European program, best program of the year and best character of the year. Entry into the Competition is free. The deadline for sending materials is January 20, 2003. For more information and registration forms email: cartoonsbay@raitrade.it or visit the Website: --> http://www.cartoonsbay.com
Melbourne International Animation Festival
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Tuesday, February 25 - Sunday, March 02, 2003
Entry Deadline: Tuesday, December 31, 2002
Some festival favorites took home awards at this year's I Castelli Animati Festival, in Genzano di Roma, Italy. Concluding on October 27, 2002, the festival honored Christopher Hinton's FLUX with the International Grand Prize, while Robert Bradbrook's HOME ROAD MOVIES picked up the award for Best European Film. Special Jury Prizes were awarded to STROJENIE INSTRUMENTOW (TUNING INSTRUMENTS) by Jerzy Kucia and THE INVASION by Phil Mulloy.
peppermint, the worldwide distribution company that has recently undergone a management buy out from Germany's Helkon Media AG, has signed a deal with Spanish production and distribution company BRB to distribute over 230 hours of programming to all Asian territories. peppermint, who will also handle Australia and New Zealand for BRB, will have exclusive distribution rights for 20 different series, each consisting of 26 x 26-minute episodes, plus 14 related features each with a running time of 75 minutes.
Buena Vista International Television has licensed its 'Classic Treasures' package to a number of key broadcasters across the Asia Pacific region for telecast on terrestrial television for the first time. The collection, which includes A BUG'S LIFE, MULAN, POCAHONTAS, TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2 will air on the Seven Network in Australia, TVNZ in New Zealand and on the Media Corp-owned Channel 5 in Singapore.
CineGroupe has joined with Fox Kids Europe (FKE) to distribute its new animated TV series PIG CITY. The series is a co-production of CineGroupe and AnimaKids (France), in association with Merchandising Munchen and Fox Kids France. The agreement with FKE includes the television, home video and merchandising rights to the series across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. CineGroupe will continue to distribute the series in Canada, the U.S., Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Animakids will handle the rights in France and Merchandising Munchen in Germany.
Sesame Workshop will be seeking co-production opportunities for the SESAME STREET brand and will also launch a new half-hour format of 50 episodes of the series at this year's MIPCOM. Also available will be ELMO'S WORLD, a 32 x 15-minute interactive series that looks at the world through the eyes of a three year-old. In addition, Sesame Workshop will launch a slate targeted to 9-14 year-olds including two new live action programs: ZOE HAWKER, NEIGHBORHOOD DOG WALKER and a co-production between CBBC (UK), ABC TV (Australia) and Noggin under the working title TWO DOWN UNDER.
POOCHINI, the 26-episode series produced by San Francisco-based animation house Wild Brain, Inc. and Germany's EM.TV debuted in the U.S. on September 7, 2002. Wild Brain has partnered with The Television Syndication Company, Inc. (TVS) to distribute POOCHINI in the U.S. market. Stations are currently being cleared in each of the 210 U.S. markets, with over 50% of the country already on board including New York, Chicago and Philadelphia among the top 30 stations.
Australian Effects & Animation Festival
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Sunday, December 01 - Wednesday, December 04, 2002
Entry Deadline: Monday, October 28, 2002
Focus Enhancements, a designer of proprietary video technology for the computer and television industries, has developed the FS454 TV-Out chip for Microsoft's Xbox, to assist in Microsoft's continuing effort to reduce the cost of its next generation video game system. In May 2001, Microsoft and Focus Enhancements began an OEM development program to produce low-cost TV-Out technology with fine text capabilities that would fit into the existing Xbox configuration, as part of a cost reduction effort.
BBC (UK), France 3 (France) and ABC (Australia) have picked up independent studio Millimages' latest animated series CORNEIL & BERNIE. The 52 x 13-minute series, also known as WATCH MY CHOPS!, is currently in production and is set to broadcast internationally during 2003. Lead character Corneil is a cultured and well-read dog, who is likened by the producers to "a canine FRASIER." Corneil keeps his genius talents hidden from his owners, but when Bernie the dog-sitter is hired and discovers Corneil's secret, Corneil's life is turned upside down.
The Animation Guild, Local 839 IATSE (formerly Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists) has signed a contract with Spaff Animation for work on Disney's upcoming theatrical release JUNGLE BOOK 2, as well as the direct-to-video release LION KING 1 1/2. Long-time animation vet Dave Spafford, who was a lead animator on WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, THE SECRET OF NIMH, OLIVER AND COMPANY, THE FOX AND THE HOUND and many others, runs Spaff Animation, which has provided animation for a wide variety of projects for the past 15 years.
Anima Mundi has announced the winners for its 2002 festival, which took place from July 12 - 21, 2002 in Rio de Janeiro then moved to São Paulo, Brazil from July 24 - July 28, 2002. The festival is the major animation festival in South America and includes a wide range of open activities, including workshops, lectures and exhibitions. A full list of winners is below.
ANIMA MUNDI 2002
AWARDS BY THE PUBLIC JURY in RIO DE JANEIRO
BEST FILM:
Vancouver, Canada's Pork and Beans Productions recently moved to a brand new 5000 square foot studio in the Yaletown district of Vancouver. The company is expanding to accommodate a growing staff as they prepare to start Flash animation production on the series YAKKITY YAK, in association with Studio B Productions. Distributed by MTV Networks International, YAKKITY YAK was created by Australian company Kapow Pictures and follows the life of a yak that longs for his big break into show business. It is scheduled to broadcast on Teletoon and Nickelodeon Australia in 2003.
The 4th Brisbane International Animation Festival.
Brisbane, Australia.
Wednesday, October 09 - Sunday, October 13, 2002.
Entry Deadline: Friday, August 16, 2002.
British animation producer, tv4c, has seen its pre-school animation series, BUSY BUSES, picked up by two regional terrestrial broadcasters in Japan for their autumn schedules. The 26 x 5-minute series is also currently airing daily on Kids Station, Japans biggest childrens satellite broadcaster and is enjoying its second run on EBS, Korea and ABC, Australia. BUSY BUSES will return to Living TV in the UK in September 2002 for a six month run.
This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: Oscars In Animation: Thursday, August 01 - Sunday, October 06, 2002, Beverly Hills, California USA . . . The Machinima Film Festival 2002: Saturday, August 17, 2002, Mesquite, Texas USA . . . Morph 2002!: Tuesday, September 24 - Saturday, September 28, 2002, World Wide Web, Germany . . . The 4th Brisbane International Animation Festival: Wednesday, October 09 - Sunday, October 13, 2002, Brisbane, Australia . . .
Palos Verdes, California's Animation Design Center is looking for a BACKGROUND DESIGN INSTRUCTOR and a PROP DESIGN INSTRUCTOR . . . New York, New York's Bunko Studios, Inc. is looking for an ANIMATION/DESIGN INTERN . . . Sydney, Australia's Cape Productions is looking for DIRECTOR(S) OF ANIMATION . . . ComCore Services is looking for an VIDEO GAME ANIMATION ARTIST and a VIDEO GAME DESIGNER . . . Barcelona, Spain's Emotion Studio is looking for a CHARACTER ANIMATOR . . . Mumbai, India's Levioza Graphics is looking for a CARTOON ANIMATOR . . .
This week's updates to the Calendar of Events include: Comic-Con 2002: Thursday, August 01 - Sunday, August 04, 2002, San Diego, California USA . . . The Big Issue International Film Festival 2002: Wednesday, November 20 - Sunday, December 01, 2002, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, NSW, VIC, QLD,SA Australia . . . Torcon3, World Science Fiction Convention: Thursday, August 28 - Monday, September 01, 2003, Toronto, Ontario Canada.
The second Melbourne International Animation Festival in Melbourne, Australia concluded on Sunday, June 30, 2002 with a best of the festival screening and awards presentation. Featuring over 150 films from more than 30 countries, the festival is currently touring other major Australian cities. Among the winners of this year's awards were DOG by Suzie Templeton, which tied with Phil Mulloy's THE INVASION for Best Overall Film. The Best Australian Film prize of AUS$2,000 (donated by SBS Television) was shared by Dan Hartney's BUCKETHEAD and LOOKING FOR HORSES by Anthony Lawrence.
IndustrialLight + Magic will provide the special visual effects and animationfor PETER PAN, the first live-action version of J.M. Barrie'senduring classic about the boy who doesn't want to grow up. The filmis a joint production of Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures andRevolution Studios, with P.J. Hogan (MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING)enlisted to direct. Principal photography will begin in fall 2002 inQueensland, Australia. Hogan and writer Michael Goldenberg (CONTACT)
The coveted short film grand prize at the 26th International Festival of Animated Film at Annecy went to Adriaan Lokman's CG short BARCODE, while Barry Purves' animated comedy drama HAMILTON MATTRESS was honored with the grand prize for Best TV Animation Program. 245 films were screened in the "Annecy 2002" official selection, coming from 33 countries, with more than 200 films premiering at the festival. The awards were presented at the closing ceremony held on Saturday, June 8, 2002. Congratulations to all the winners!
TDK Mediactive, Inc. and Activision, Inc. have announced a strategic agreement to co-develop and co-publish video games. The companies have agreed that their initial collaboration will be based on TDK Mediactive's existing license to the sequel to DreamWorks Pictures' feature film SHREK. The first SHREK title to be released under this agreement is expected to launch on multiple platforms simultaneously with the theatrical debut of the SHREK sequel (currently scheduled for summer 2004).
