Bill Plympton has updated his
In March, "Surprise Cinema"
will be appearing in various festivals and other events in the US, Canada,
Belgium, Germany and Australia. Bill will be appearing at the Zagreb World
Festival of Animated Films in Zagreb, Croatia, June 12-25, 2000.
No matter what your level, you will enjoy the animation lessons, character
designs and tips offered on the Toon Institute web site...
Check out the latest "behind the scenes" features and tutorials from Visual
Magic Magazine...
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book, "Sleazy
Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
The results of AWN's drawing to win a copy of Giannalberto Bendazzi's
reference book "Cartoons: One Hundred Years Of Cinema Animation" are in.
Following are the names of the ten winners: Eric Beckman, Carla Cobb, Peter
Dougherty, Andrea Moore, Scott Nelowet, Gail Noonan, Mary Peng, Stephen
Rapley, George Roy and Peter Westoby. Congratulations and thank you to all
the Animation Flash subscribers who participated.
* Wednesday, March 1, 2000. Burbank, California, U.S.A.
Ideas, new properties and pitching will be the topic of discussion at this
month's Women In Animation Production Management Group Meeting (PMG). The
event will be held at Nickelodeon in Burbank at 7 pm. Monthly meetings will
be on the 1st Wednesday of each month at Nickelodeon. To attend please RSVP
to Kellie-Bea Cooper at (818) 623-0020 or E-mail:
kellie-bea@kellie-bea.com. For more information on WIA events please visit
*Saturday, March 4, 2000. New York, New York, U.S.A.
The School of Visual Arts will feature a workshop entitled "Art of
Directing 3D Computer Animation" taught by Isaac Victor Kerlow, director of
digital talent at Walt Disney. The SVA alumni will lead the one-day event
explaining the day-to-day processes of art directing 3D computer animation
productions. In addition, Kerlow will discuss the various markets for 3D
computer animation such as TV, interactive and the Web. The class will be
* Friday, March 10 - Friday, March 17, 2000. Santa Clarita, California, U.S.A.
The Santa Clarita International Film Festival is strictly dedicated to
family entertainment. It includes a film and screenplay competition,
student filmmaker award, as well as panel discussions. Co-sponsored by
FOCUS Institute of Film, the winning screenplay will be mentored and
developed for future production with a later-announced studio. For more
* Saturday, March 18, 2000. San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
* Thursday, March 16 - Tuesday, March 21, 2000. Stuttgart, Germany.
The 10th International Trickfilm Festival will present the best animated
productions from the past two years. More than 500 films will be screened
at the festival. The Best of Animation includes a selection of the most
interesting films in the history of artistic, animated film. Young
Animation is a competition featuring animated film schools and colleges.
The festival will also present the International Panorama, Tricks for Kids,
* Thursday, April 6 - Sunday, April 9, 2000. Brisbane, Australia.
The Third Brisbane International Animation Festival represents Australia in
an international animation festival alliance with Ottawa, Holland, Fantoche
and Anima Mundi. It is Australia's only festival dedicated exclusively to
animation in all o
* Sunday, April 9 - Sunday, April 16, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Comic book fans can hobnob with the best in the business on a 7 day/7 night
cruise benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit
organization protecting the First Amendment rights of the comics community.
The "Making WAVES" cruise will stop at three Mexican ports -- Puerto
Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan. The event will feature week-long
* Sunday, February 13, 2000 - Thursday, February 17, 2000. New York, New
York, U.S.A.
The American International Toy Fair, one of the world's leading toy trade
shows, features over 1,800 exhibitors and highlights the newest and most
exciting toys on the market. Toy Manufacturers of America, Inc., the
industry trade association, brings the 97th annual event to several
showrooms all across the Manhattan area. Three new showplaces have joined
* Friday, February 18, 2000. New York, New York, U.S.A.
Cinema Village, the city's venue for alternative animation, will be
presenting the U.S. theatrical premiere of KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS from
French filmmaker Michel Ocelot. Based on a West African legend, this film
follows a miraculous infant who singlehandedly saves his small village from
a sultry yet evil wizard. Featuring an original score by Senegalese music
artist Youssou N'Dour, KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS offers a unique spin: an
Just under the loud yelp of SCREAM 3 and THE HURRICANE, STUART LITTLE, with
primary visual effects by Sony Pictures Imageworks, additional animation by
CFX and Rhythm & Hues, and miniatures by Thunderstone, squeaked up a spot
to #3 at the U.S. box office. Sony's radiant rodent racked in US$4.71
million bringing its total stock pile of green cheese to $128.6 million.
THE GREEN MILE, with primary visual effects by ILM, Rhythm & Hues, POP and
Riding the wave of the box office success of STUART LITTLE, Columbia/Sony
Pictures has announced a sequel to the tiny toon. Shooting on the new film
could start as soon as this summer. The intended release date for the flick
is Christmas 2001. Producer Doug Wick is set to return, however actors,
director and screenwriter have not yet been confirmed. Sony Picture
Imageworks, who comprised the effects for the first flick, are expected to
return on the sequel. The first STUART LITTLE was directed by Rob Minkoff,
Time Warner's Entertaindom.com and Pulse Entertainment have formed a
strategic relationship to bring interactive animated entertainment to the
Web. The partnership includes content produced by Pulse Entertainment as
well as an investment by Entertaindom in Pulse. The cash and content deal
strengthens Entertaindom's ongoing alliance with Pulse Entertainment as
home to its Pulse Comix page and as a major content provider for
Entertaindom Web shows like MARVIN THE MARTIAN, DR. SCIENCE and FLOOPS.
Macromedia, Inc. announced its acquisition of Time4.com, a
Minneapolis-based Net application development firm. The privately-held
business, which created a Web-based reservation system, was acquired for an
undisclosed amount. Time4.com's president and chief executive officer
Douglas K. Olson will become vice president of engineering for the
Macromedia eBusiness Solutions Group. In his new role, Olson will lead the
development of Macromedia's eBusiness Infrastructure, one of the first
On February 3, 2000, Pixar reported financial results for its fiscal fourth
quarter and year ending January 1, 2000. For the quarter, Pixar posted
record profits of US$9.6 million, or $0.19 per diluted share. These results
are compared to profits of $1.1 million, or $0.02 per diluted share,
achieved in the 4th quarter of 1998. Revenues for the quarter were $24.9
million, compared with $3.1 million a year-ago. For the year, Pixar held
profits of $49.2 million, or $0.99 per diluted share, compared with $7.8
In association with Children's Television Workshop and IF/X Productions,
CineGroupe will be producing 40 half-hour episodes of SAGWA, THE CHINESE
SIAMESE CAT for PBS KIDS. The series is adapted from the award-winning
children's book by Amy Tan, author of THE JOY LUCK CLUB. SAGWA follows the
title character's escapades through Ancient China. Each episode will
include 11-minute segments and related interstitials woven together by
music, folk stories and fairy tales. The executive producers of the project
Disney's THE WEEKENDERS is set to premiere on ABC's "Disney's One Saturday
Morning" line-up Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 8:30 am. Each episode
follows a quartet of friends over one weekend from Friday after school to
Sunday evening. The series will be directed by Steve Lyons and is produced
by Walt Disney Television Animation.
Vitoria, Spain-based Mb Producciones is reaping a huge success from its new
animated series MIMI AND MR. BOBO. Since its debut on TVE, the average
share the series has received is 25.8. The show airs Saturday at 9 am and
re-runs at 8:30 am on Sundays. Mb Producciones is currently in negotiation
to create merchandise for the program with several well-known Spanish toy
and book companies. The company is also in the developing stage of a
feature based on the characters of the MIMI AND MR. BOBO series.
On February 1, 2000, Cartoon Network announced a broad expansion of
CartoonNetwork.com, the network's entertainment destination on the Web.
Kicking off the expansion is a heavy increase in original, interactive
entertainment. Over the next year, CartoonNetwork.com will more than double
production of its Web Premiere Toons. In addition, CartoonNetwork.com will
triple the number of games on the site; add functionality including
shopping and advanced search functions; and create a safe community aspect.
Montreal-based CineGroupe and Saban International Paris will co-produce a
new half-hour series entitled WUNSCHPUNCH. The show will be based on the
novel by Michael Ende, whose previous novel, THE NEVER ENDING STORY was
made into a live-action feature. Radio Canada will broadcast the series in
Canada and TF1 will air it in France. Hubert Gariepy and Bruno Bianchi will
produce the series and Philippe Amador will direct.
