Geographical Region: Europe

Chromacolour, an international leader in the manufacture and sale of traditional and digital animation materials, software and equipment, has just moved their manufacturing operation to a new 20,000 square foot facility in North East Calgary, Canada. This is also the location of their global headquarters and Sales and Distribution center. The company's European Sales and Distribution center has been recently relocated to a new facility in London, England as well.

The London Effects & Animation Festival (LEAF) is part of Digital Media World, a creative technology event. LEAF, a leading European CGI event, will award the best work in the categories of Animated Commercials, Live Action Commercials, Short Film, Music Video, Feature Film, Student, Titles, Idents and Strings, Education and Simulation. The deadline for entries is September 17, 1999. For more information call 01244 393261; or visit www.digmedia.co.uk.

THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD, a live-action/animated feature length film,is scheduled to begin shooting this month in England and Canada. Based onthe TV series THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE, the film is a co-production betweenDestination Film, Britt Allcroft Co. and Gullane Pictures. Icon FilmDistribution, the British releasing arm of Mel Gibson and Bruce Davey'sIcon Productions, will distribute the film in the UK. THOMAS THE TANKENGINE began as a series of children's books by the late Rev. Wilbert

Nickelodeon's Worldwide Development Group, an international team ofNickelodeon creative and development executives, is launching Nickelodeon'sfirst global animation storyboard competition. The competition is open toanimators around the world. Six winners will be given the opportunity toproduce a one to three minute animated short based on their winningstoryboard and have it air on Nickelodeon channels around the world.Nickelodeon is looking for innovative animators with fresh,

Thirty-seven never-before-seen CARTOONS FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS PSA's will be shown at the Annecy Film Festival in Annecy, France on Tuesday, June 1 at 6 pm. A global broadcast initiative organized by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), CARTOONS FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS informs people about children's rights, as set forth by the 1989 United Nations General Assembly Convention on the Rights of the Child. To help raise awareness of these rights, UNICEF has collected 66 CARTOONS FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS spots produced by animators from 32 countries.

Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis' short film, WHEN THE DAY BREAKS (TheNational Film Board of Canada), won the Palme d'Or at the recentlyconcluded 52nd Cannes International Film Festival in Cannes, France. Ittook four years for Forbis and Tilby to finish the softly colored,wordless, but musical, story of a pig whose world shifts after a caraccident kills a stranger (a chicken) on her block. Forbis and Tilby beganthe production of "When the Day Breaks" by shooting High-8 video of the

Pre-production on STAR WARS EPISODE II (Lucas reportedly has a title inmind, but it has not been released) has already begun. Shooting is set tostart in June 2000 with locations at Fox Studios Australia, Tunisia, andItaly, and the release is scheduled for summer 2002. The story will focuson the romance and marriage between Anakin Skywalker (the future DarthVader) and Queen Amidala, and the Siths' attempt to gain control of thegalaxy. Whereas the budget for EPISODE 1 was $115 million, Lucas says he

Elfriede Fischinger died quietly in her sleep at her home on Thursday, May13, 1999. She was born September 17, 1910, in Gelnhausen near Frankfurt,Germany. She attended the prestigious College of Design in Offenbach, andin 1931 one of her abstract textile designs won a prize and was publishedin a magazine as well as exhibited in Berlin, where she met her futurehusband, animator and painter Oskar Fischinger. They were married in 1933and she worked on many of his subsequent films. In 1936 they emigrated to

A BUG'S LIFE, a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar AnimationStudios film, has climbed to $358 million in worldwide box office receiptsto become one of the top-grossing animated films of all time. With itsdomestic gross of $163 million, the film has already become the fourthbiggest animated feature released in the United States (behind THE LIONKING, ALADDIN and TOY STORY). Internationally, A BUG'S LIFE has agross-to-date of $195 million and has set records in the United Kingdom,

The recently concluded Cartoons on the Bay festival in Poistano, Italy has announced its awards. The Golden Pulcinella for best character went to the Little Entertainment Co.'s BILLY, an animated British TV series for pre-schoolers about an infant daydreamer. The Golden Pulcinella for best program went to Folimage's CHARLIE'S CHRISTMAS, a French TV film about an abandoned child's friendship with a postman.

The California Sun Festival, which took place at California StateUniversity Northridge on April 10 - 11, handed out the following awards:

The Golden Sun (Best of the Festival) went to Hannes Rall, Germany, for"Der Rabe" (The Raven), an 8-minute film freely adapted from the poem "TheRaven" by Edgar Allen Poe.

The Silver Stars (Best in each Category) wentto:

Traditional Animation: Andrea Guaraldo, Italy, for "Soffioni"

Computer Animation: Heiko Lueg, Germany, for "Sandland"