Interactive Television Entertainment (ITE) has secured two new
territories for its show HUGO JUNGLE. The show will start airing March
1, 2000 on Nat 7 in Malaysia and January 17, 2000 on BKTV in Serbia and
Montenegro. Extensive use of the Animation Mask System, and animated
links between each playing scenario, make HUGO JUNGLE a unique live
interactive cartoon show.
In
ANDREA-MANUELA SEIBERT has been named VP, European Sales for RIVE GAUCHE INTERNATIONAL TV. Seibert previously served as lead Acquisitions Exec and Special Project Exec at RTL Television in Munich, Germany. Based in Germany, Seibert will head European sales and marketing of Rive Gauche's programming library, handle acquisitions of European-produced specials for worldwide distribution and coordinate European co-productions.
DreamWorks has obtained the screen rights to Nathan Never, a comic published in Italy by Bonelli Editore and imported by Platinum Studios. The story focuses around Nathan Never, a 21st Century Dirty Harry, who, in the wake of a terrible crime, is charged to protect the lone witness. The comic was acquired by DW's Walter Parkes and Glenn Williamson. The pic will be produced by Platinum chairman Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, co-produced by Platinum pres Ervin Rustemagic and senior VP Gregory Noveck. Parkes and Rosenberg teamed up together on MEN IN BLACK.
As was reported [AF 12/21/99], a federal
court jury convicted former Walt Disney Internet executive, 34-year-old
Patrick Naughton, of possessing child pornography, but deadlocked on
charges that he crossed state lines seeking sex with a "13-year-old girl"
which he arranged via the Internet. On Wednesday, December 22, 1999, U.S.
District Judge Edward Rafeedie reversed his own ruling and released
Naughton from jail, saying it was likely that he would win a new trial. On
Recently, Europe has gotten a good old dose of American capitalism,
Japanese style. POKEMON has infested the European television market. The
children's mega-hit first debuted in the UK on Sky 1 in April and quickly
became the channel's #1 kids show. In October, the ITV Network and GMTV
secured UK terrestrial broadcast rights to the show. A month prior to the
ITV and GMTV deal, POKEMON started airing on Germany's RTL2, The
Netherlands' Fox Kids, Belgium's VT4 and RTL, Portugal's SIC and France's
A strike by union employees at Disneyland Paris may stop the park's rocking
New Year's Eve celebration. Disney played down the chance of a strike,
however local union leader Elena Stanciu warned, "The party'll be ruined,"
citing staff frustration over slow-moving pay talks and dissatisfaction
with a $115 New Year's Eve bonus as the main reasons for the latest threat
of a walk out. Stanciu said seasonal staff were being offered almost four
Next summer the third feature installment of the POKEMON trilogy will makeits way to Japanese theatres. POCKET MONSTER: THE LORD OF THE UNKNOWN TOWERwill introduce yet another of those little "pocket things" to kids andmerchandising execs around the world. Kunihiko Yuyama is set to direct thefilm, which will feature a short tentatively titled POKEMON 2000. If in theU.S. or Europe one may ask, whatever happened to POKEMON 2? Well, fear notCharmander chums, the second POKEMON feature, which was released in Japan
Cinanima '99 finished its week-long run on November 14, 1999. The Espinho,Portugal festival highlights the best in animation from around the globe.This year, the International Jury gave their Grand Prize to AlexanderPetrov's film THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. The Canadian and Japanese producedfilm also won the RTP Prize, an award given by the Portuguese StateChannel's special jury, and the Best Soundtrack Prize. TheCanadian-produced film by Eugene Fedorenko and Rose Newlove entitled
The 24th International Festival of animated film will be held in Annecy,France, June 5-10, 2000. The festival is now accepting entries for animatedshort films, television series, commissioned films and student films. Thedeadline to register your film for competition is January 15, 2000. Entryforms are now available on the festival web site. The three selectioncommittees will gather in Annecy March 2-12, 2000 in order to choose the 5features and 10 programs of shorts which will compose the official
The Monte-Carlo Television Festival has announced the members of theirinternational jury for the 2nd European Television Producer Award. GuyFournier, the Canadian writer/producer, will preside over the seven memberjury. Guy Fournier has written some 2000 hours of television drama forFrench and Canadian productions, over 150 hours of films and series fortelevision, plays for the theater, feature length films (FANTASTICA, UNEAMIE D'ENFANCE) and has also published a number of books. Other jury
The Imagina computer conference and festival is often referred to as theEuropean equivalent to SIGGRAPH. For its 19th edition, in keeping withtradition, the event will start in Monaco, January 31-February 2, 2000, butwill then continue in Paris February 2-4, 2000 with the exhibition of newindustrial developments and technologies. The events in Monaco include the"Prix Pixel-INA" awards competition, the Innovation Space, and variousconferences and panel discussions such as "2D/3D Animation," a discussion
These limited edition autographed prints from Yuri Norstein's "Tales ofTales" and "Hedgehog in the Fog," made in Russia from the drawings Norsteinused to develop his characters, are hand signed by Norstein. Most of theproceeds from sales will go to help finance the ongoing production of"Overcoat," Yuri Norstein's famous work in progress, which he began aftercompleting "Tale of Tales" in 1978, and is based on a famous story byNikolai Gogol. This is a very limited offer, with the print value at
A year ago, French and other European animation professionals gathered atthe third "Crossroads of the Image of the Indian Ocean" to discuss Europeancartoons. At this event, financing is always a hot topic of discussion.France is the third largest producer of animation worldwide, after the U.S.and Japan. Production itself has greatly developed in recent years with theproliferation of television channels. In 1988 there weren't any 26half-hour episode series being done in Europe, now there are dozens every
With the tremendous response of new schools, the publication of AWN'sAnimation School Directory Winter 2000 edition has been extended to January20, 2000. Educators and School Administrators, don't miss out! If youhaven't responded yet, you've got a few extra weeks to act. Every schoolgets a free basic listing, plus a profile in AWN's on-line Animation SchoolDatabase, where students and future students can search through the mostcomprehensively indexed and categorized list of animation schools on the
December 19-20, 1999, ASIFA Italia, with the help of the Ministry ofCultural Affairs, the Regione Piemonte and the Comune di Torino, togetherwith the support of Young Artists Circle and the British Council andPro-Helvetia, is organizing a meeting and a series of films on the subjectof "Art & Animation" in Turin, Italy. The meeting aims to heightenawareness of animation as an art form with a particular stress onindependent research, experimental and artistic short films. The event is
For the first time on video!! The best of Zagreb Film, plus RembrandtFilms' greatest hits, the Best of Bulgaria, and a second volume of TrnkaShorts.
THE BEST OF ZAGREB FILM IN FIVE ONE-HOUR VOLUMES: In four decades ZagrebFilm produced 600 animated films that won more than 400 internationalawards. The studio quickly became famous for a unique animation style thatbecame known as the Zagreb school. One of the studio's pioneeringdistinctions was that its filmmakers wrote, designed, and directed their
As part of the International Children's Film Festival in Hyderabad, Indiaon November 17 - 18, 1999, 45 children ages 5 - 15 years old came togetherto create a wildly imaginative, 5 minute animated short titled TOONED IN 2DAYS. The feat was done at a 2 day workshop on animation conducted by Dr.Neeraj's Animation Studios, the digital animation production facility ofSriven Multi-Tech Limited. Twenty of the studio's top animators, led byDhimant Vyas and Rajsekhar took on the responsibility of guiding the
The 7th World Animation Celebration (WAC) arrives in L.A. on Tuesday, May30, 2000 - Sunday, June 4, 2000 for its festival and internationalcompetition. WAC will showcase more than 800 films, including the best inboth classic and contemporary animation. As the main attraction, WAC willpresent awards to the best new animated works from around the world. TheWorld Animation Celebration will present a trade show, an internationalbusiness conferenece, world and American film premieres, seminars,
Six films from Czech puppet master, Jiri Trnka, will be available on a newcompilation DVD available February 29, 2000. Included on the release willbe the feature-length classic THE EMPEROR'S NIGHTINGALE based on the HansChristian Anderson fairy tale and narrated by legendary-Hollywood actorBoris Karloff. The five featured shorts will include Trnka's world famousTHE HAND, along with STORY OF THE BASS CELLO, A MERRY CIRCUS, A DROP TOOMUCH, and THE SONG OF THE PRAIRIE. Not to sound too much like a late-night
EuropaCinema & TV, held in Viareggio, Italy, announced their two animationshort winners. FOREVER AND EVER, by Michaela Pavlatova and Pavel Koutecky(Czech Republic) and SUBURBANITES by Stefan Vermeulen (Belgium) took homethe prize. The international jury of Enzo D'Alo, Georges Wolinski, MarjutRimminen, Rastko Ciric and Sergio Staino said FOREVER AND EVER is "a filmthat gives us an unconventional interpretation of love, dramatic and at thesame time ironically surrealistic. A film that also reveals a remarkable
April 6-9, 2000, The Brisbane International Animation Festival willrepresent Australia in the international animation festival alliance withOttawa, Holland, Fantoche and Anima Mundi animation festivals. It isAustralia's only festival dedicated exclusively to animation in all of itsforms. Playing host to national and international guests who will gather inBrisbane, Australia, to experience the best of world class animation, thefestival provides a local, national and international forum for the
KIM MCQUILKEN has been promoted to executive vice president of CARTOONNETWORK sales and marketing. Based in Atlanta, his new responsibilitieswill include sales and marketing for Cartoon Network.com. Formerly seniorvice president and general sales manager for the unit, McQuilken joinedTurner Broadcasting System, Inc., in 1992 as director of marketing forspecial projects for the 1994 Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia.After the Games, he served as vice president, sports and brand licensing
The Florida-based AARGH! ANIMATION, Inc. has hired JASON TEATE as colordesigner and associate producer. Jason completed color design for AARGH!'srecent series of national spots for Cold-Eeze cold medicine, which are nowairing.
After 6 years, the organizers of the Oslo Animation Festival have movedoperations to Fredrikstad, Norway. Complete with a new name, the Nordic andBaltic Animation Festival invites both animators and spectators on May 3-5,2000 to take part in an event dedicated to promoting the screening andbetter understanding of animation. This year's festival presents: Nordicand Baltic films in competition, Nordic and Baltic Panorama, Internationalhighlights, a Focus on British animation, Animation as Music, a Celebration
Toronto-based Nelvana Limited, an integrated family entertainment company,has formed a multi-layered partnership with German-based production houseRTV Family Entertainment AG, a leader in children's programming in Germany.The agreement includes a significant distribution deal for current andlibrary programs and a 3-year deal for future productions andco-productions. Through the deal, RTV will bring Nelvana's library of showsto TV, home video, and merchandising venues across Germany, Eastern Europe,
