AWN Headline News

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has announced the Academy Award/Oscar nominees for films made in 1998. The nominees in the Best Animated Short Film category are:

JOLLY ROGER, an Astley Baker production directed by Mark Baker.

THE CANTERBURY TALES, an S4C production written and executive directed by Jonathan Myerson.

BUNNY, a Blue Sky Studios production written and directed by Chris Wedge.

WHEN LIFE DEPARTS, an A Films Aps production directed by Karsten Killerich and Stefan Fjeldmark.

* Sunday, February 14. Los Angeles, California, USA

Hollywood Shorts will hold their February screening on Valentine's Day at 6:00 p.m. and in honor of the holiday, the films being screened all have a heart-y theme. The sole animated short in this edition is Christine Smith's cel-animated short CHASING THE BLUES AWAY. The screening will be held at THE JOINT, 8771 West Pico Blvd, in West LA. The complete films will also be available for on-line viewing at http://www.lalive.com/hollywoodshorts.

* Wednesday, February 24. Rochester, New York, USA

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) presents their Winter MFA Animation Screening at 7:00 p.m. in the Carlson Auditorium on the RIT campus. The screening is open to all and includes screenings of the winter quarter projects and thesis films. For more information, e-mail mkspph@rit.edu or call (716) 475-2754.

Hash Inc. has released Animation Master 99 (AM99), an updated version of their popular computer animation program, which runs on Windows 95, Windows NT and the Mac OS. Many of the new features in this update revolve around a particular theme: Film, Workflow and Video Games. Among the numerous additions to AM99 are Smart Skin, Action Blending, Real-Time Blended Joints, Film Grain, Skeletal Poses, Real-Time Model and Map Export and Field Rendering. The software package still sells for $199 (U.S.). For further information, visit www.hash.com.

In the show's first outing on Monday, January 25, "Dilbert" delivered UPN's highest-rated telecast of a comedy in adults 18-49 (3.3 rating/9 share) and 18-34 (3.7/11). The show's performance among total viewers (4.2/6) more than tripled UPN's season averages in the 8:00 p.m. Monday time slot and was UPN's best household rating for a comedy since a February '97 airing of "Moesha."

Blue Sky | VIFX's Jan Carlée directed and designed a cinematic bug's-eye-view of the natural world for a series of three 30-second computer animated spots for Nature's Resource herbal products: "Echinacea," "Ginko Balboa" and "St. John Wort." All three ads, which feature a ladybug searching out the choicest flowers and herbal ingredients, "bring the camera down to the ladybug's level and stage the scenes so that we see the world from her point of view," explains Carlée.

"The Ren and Stimpy Show" creator John Kricfalusi and his company, Spümco, have completed a second set of retro-styled commercials for clothing retailer Old Navy - "Boys Big Hood Fleece" and "Girls Curly Fleece." The two 30-second spots, which started airing in December, promote Old Navy's Performance Fleece line complete with characters like a Curly Fleece Poodle and a walrus. Both were produced through (Colossal) Pictures and directed/produced by John Kricfalusi. Executive producers were Kevin Kolde (Spumco) and Jana Canellos (Colossal).

The second season of MTV's "Celebrity Deathmatch" starts Thursday, February 4th at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT). The clay-rendered matches for the season opener are Ice Cube vs. Ice-T, Robert DeNiro vs. Al Pacino and the Backstreet Boys vs. the Beastie Boys. Upcoming matches in the second season include "Battle of the Teen Scream Queens," "Battle of the Bonds" and a match with the cast of "Friends," along with "Deathmatch Fashion Show," where clay supermodels fashion the latest in Deathmatch body armor and weapons.

Disney's 36th animated feature, "Mulan," is released on video on February 2 at $26.99. It will receive a simultaneous release in Disney's Spanish-language collection, Disney En Espanol. As a special bonus, the video will feature an exclusive five-minute behind-the-scenes look at Walt Disney Pictures' upcoming animated film, "Tarzan." DreamWorks will release "Antz" on home video on February 9 only four months after its theatrical release at $26.98.

* Saturday, February 6. Chicago, IL, USA.

* Tuesday, February 9 - Saturday, February 20. Brussels, Belgium.

The Scientific and Technical Academy Awards will be presented on Saturday, February 27 in Los Angeles. Avid Technology will receive an Oscar statuette for the concept, system design and engineering of the Avid Film Composer for motion picture editing. Of the thirty-four other awards (Academy plaques and certificates), the sole animation-related distinction goes to Cary Phillips of Industrial Light & Magic, who will receive a Technical Achievement award for the design and development of the "Caricature" Animation System