AWN Headline News

The September edition of Hollywood Shorts, a monthly short film series forlive-action and, occasionally, animation, takes place Sunday, September 12at various venues throughout the Los Angeles area, and on the web. For moreinformation visit www.lalive.com/hollywoodshorts.

The Women In Animation Writers Group presents guest speaker Lydia Marano,whose credits include GARGOYLES, SPIDER-MAN, PHANTOM 2040, CONAN AND THEYOUNG WARRIORS, and RESCUE RANGERS. The event takes place Thursday,September 9, 7:30 pm. at Saban Entertainment, 10960 Wilshire Blvd. at thecorner of Midvale in Westwood, California, USA. The admission fee is $5.00.RSVP: Karla Parker at karlaparker@earthlink.net, or Jean Wrightat (818) 360-8321.

New York-based Kino on Video is releasingtwo Brothers Quay videos. THE BROTHERS QUAY COLLECTION: TEN ASTONISHINGSHORT FILMS 1984-1993 includes THE CABINET OF JAN SVANKMAJER, THE EPIC OFGILGAMESH OR THIS UNNAMEABLE LITTLE BROOM, STREET OF CROCODILES, REHEARSALSFOR EXTINCT ANATOMIES, DRAMOLET (STILLE NACHT I), THE COMB (FROM THEMUSEUMS OF SLEEP), DE ARTIFICALI PERSPECTIVA OR ANAMORPHOSIS, ARE WE STILLMARRIED? (STILLE NACHT II), TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS (STILLE NACHT III),

New York-based MTV Networks Online, a unit of ViacomInc., has formed MTV Interactive (MTVi), a new Internet-only music company,which will include music super-brands vh1.com, mtv.com and sonicnet.com.Nicholas Butterworth, former president of SonicNet, was named president andCEO of MTVi, and will report directly to Fred Seibert, president of MTVNetworks Online and Chairman of MTVi. "We think there is great value informing a company that includes three of the Internet's best music sites,"

NPAR 2000 is the first internationalsymposium dedicated to non-photorealistic animation and rendering,including cartoon animation systems and techniques. It takes place at theInternational Animated Film Festival of Annecy, France, July 5-9, 2000 inconjunction with ACM/SIGGRAPH and Eurographics. The symposium will bringtogether researchers and practitioners from academia and industry, showcasecutting-edge research in non-photorealistic animation and rendering systemsand techniques, and present examples of these techniques in original

Sony Pictures Entertainmenthas formalized the name of its newest business unit, Sony Pictures FamilyEntertainment Group (SPFE), and appointed Gary Hirsch as senior vicepresident and general manager of the division. Reporting to SanderSchwartz, president of the relatively new division, Hirsch will oversee newbusiness development opportunities for the division and its day-to-dayoperations, including business affairs, human resources, studio operations,production and marketing. Hirsch comes to Sony's SPFE from Columbia

Buena Vista's supernatural thriller THE SIXTH SENSE, with visual effects byDreamQuest, finished first at the US weekend boxoffice for the fourthconsecutive week, grossing an estimated $20.1 million, for a total of$138.9 million. No other animation related film finished in the top ten.Newly released Universal's DUDLEY DO-RIGHT, a live-action film which starsBrendan Fraser, and is based on the series about a Canadian Mountie fromJay Ward and Bill Scott's early 1960s THE ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE SHOW,finished eleventh, grossing $3 million.

New York City-based QUIET MAN has completed "Giant Boy," a :30 spot forFritos Racerz, a race-car shaped snack food. In the spot, a NASCAR race cardriver wakens from a dream just before he and his car are eaten by a boy.Johnnie Semerad directed the visual effects, and Philana Dias was theFlame/Effects artist. Richard Sears directed the spot for New York andHollywood-based production company HKM Productions for New York-basedagency BBDO.