AWN Headline News

Animation Magazine and Brilliant Digital Entertainment, Inc., a producer of3-D animated content on the Internet and a developer of animation tools andtechnology, have announced that they will co-host the Dancing PixelFestival. Dancing Pixel will be the first all 3-D real-time animationfestival on the Internet. Animators, both professionals and aspirants, areinvited to submit their work for public viewing and judging on the festivalsite. Submissions will be taken from October 1, 1999 to December 31, 1999.

Buena Vista's supernatural thriller THE SIXTH SENSE, with visual effects byDreamQuest, finished third at the US weekend boxoffice, grossing anestimated $11.2 million over the weekend, for a total of $216.7 million. Noother animation related films finished in the top ten.

Toronto-based NELVANA LIMITED has promoted EMMANUELE PETRY to vicepresident of Nelvana Europe International Limited. In her new position,Petry will be responsible for supervising the company's London and Parisoffices. She will continue to investigate co-production and financingopportunities in Europe, and she will also oversee the distribution of TV,video, theatrical and merchandising rights in countries outside NorthAmerica.

On Monday, October 4 at 4 pm Jean-Marie Messier, president of Vivendi, aFrench multimedia, communications and power company, will deliver thekeynote address for the special three day forum on convergence, TV Meetsthe Internet @ MIPCOM. The address will be entitled "21st CenturyTelevision: Visions for Next Generation Broadcasting.". . . Rome,Italy-based RAI TRADE will offer BROTHER JACOB, an animated edutainmentseries for children about a storytelling monk, as well as GONE WITH THE

Tom Sito will host THAT '70s - 80s CARTOON SHOW! on Friday, September 17, at 7 pm. Meet Filmation directors Tom Tataranowicz and Ed Friedman; Lou Scheimer, Filmation's founder; Hanna-Barberas Jerry Eisenberg, designer of THE BANANA SPLITS and PETER POTAMUS; and Iwao Takamoto, designer of Scooby Doo and Penelope Pittstop. The evening will include screenings, plenty of stories and a chance to ask the creators about your favorite shows and characters. Admission is $5 at the door for ASIFA-Hollywood members and full time students, $8 at the door for all others.

INFOGRAMES, a global publisher of interactive entertainment software, hasappointed a new management team. STAN ROACH, formerly executive vicepresident of marketing, will take on the role of COO overseeing sales,marketing and product development. YVES LEGRIS, formerly with Infogrames'headquarters in France, will become COO responsible for finance, businessdevelopment, legal affairs, studio operations, information technology andhuman resources.

Mumbai, India-based GRAPHITI MULTIMEDIA has completed two :15 spots forLimca soft drink. In one of the spots, an animated version of Indian moviestar Shah Rukh Khan is chased by a dog while on a date with his girlfriend.In the other spot, a cricket player is taunted by a duck. In both spots,the characters are encouraged to "take it easy" with a Limca soft drink.Graphiti used Cambridge Animation Systems' Animo software to composite thehand-drawn characters with the backgrounds, which were created using AdobePhotoshop.

Manga Video is releasing MACROSS PLUS on DVD on October 12, 1999. MACROSSPLUS, directed by Shoji Kawamori, is a DTV (direct-to-video) which is basedon the original Japanese TV series SUPERDIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS, whichwas used as the basis for the 1980s American TV series ROBOTECH. MACROSSPLUS is set approximately thirty years after the original MACROSS and justbefore the events in the Japanese TV series MACROSS 7. In MACROSS PLUS, theuniverse's most popular virtual reality singer, Sharon Apple, comes alive