* Friday, September 18 -Sunday, September 20. Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.A.
Anime Iowa, a convention for fans of Japanese animation, takes place at the Radisson Highlander Inn. For information visit http://omocha.shc.uiowa.edu/animeiowa.
Every year since 1991, the organization CARTOON, with the support of the MEDIA program of the European Union, selects one short European animated film as the Cartoon DOr, or best European animation film. Nominees are selected from the list of top prize-winning and recommended films from participating European animation festivals: Annecy, Brussels, Cardiff, Espinho, Stuttgart, Utrecht and, new this year, Oslo. The director of the Cartoon DOr winning film will receive 25,000 ECU (approximately U.S. $25,000) to spend on a new animation project.
The second Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, held September 11-13, selected Mike Johnsons stop-motion music video The Devil Went Down to Georgia as Best Animation Film. It competed with 12 other animated films in the festival. For information about the festival and the next call for entries, visit www.lashortsfest.com.
U.K.-headquartered CAMBRIDGE ANIMATION SYSTEMS, creators of Animo 2D animation software, named TOM CARRIGAN director of international sales. He will be based in the U.K. Carrigan has previously held sales positions with Softimage and Toon Boom Technologies.
MEDIAPEGS, creators of PEGS 2D animation software, has named FRANCE LÉTANG director of sales & marketing for Europe. She will be based in Paris and report to vice president Paul Marcot in Los Angeles. Létang previously worked at Saban International Services.
CURIOUS PICTURES San Francisco studio has signed Dutch director JERRY VAN DE BEEK to its roster. Van de Beek has worked with (Colossal) Pictures (San Francisco), Condor Video (Amsterdam) and The Moving Picture Company (London). He specializes in combining CG and cel animation. In 1996, he co-founded, with Betsy de Fries, the animation and design firm, Little Fluffy Clouds, which will continue operating in San Francisco.
New York-based animation/live-action studio PITCH, INC. signed London-based director/animator DAVID FREEDMAN to its new commercial division. His background includes directing, writing, agency work and stand-up comedy. Plus, with his writing partner, Alan Gilbey, he is currently writing an animated series, The Foxbusters. Pitchs commercial division is represented by KELLY FLINT, who joined the new company from Curious Pictures, where she worked with Pitch co-founders RUSS DUBE, CHRIS GILLIGAN and STEVE KATZ.
GREG PAIR has completed an eight-month stint as animation supervisor on MTVs stop-motion show Celebrity Death Match. He is returning to the studio he is a partner in, AMPNYC, to direct and produce stop-motion commercial work.
Animation educator Gail Banker died of a stroke on Sunday, September 13, the day after her 60th birthday. For the past 13 years, she taught animation to children and adults in the New England area: as an instructor at Hanover High School in Hanover, New Hampshire; as a counselor at the Charles River Creative Arts Program in Dover, Massachusetts; and as founder of Single-Frame Studio in Norwich, Vermont, where she ran weekly animation workshops for children. She also taught adult animation classes at her studio and through various continuing education programs.
U.S. network NBC aired only three episodes of the prime-time animated series Stressed Eric before pulling it off the air due to disappointing ratings (Nielsen average 4.8). The show, produced with British broadcaster BBC by Klasky Csupo and Absolutely Productions, had been specially dubbed with a new voice track for American viewers, and was slated to air for six episodes through the end of the summer season.
Due to minor post-production delays, CARTOON NETWORK has moved the premiere of its newest animated half-hour series, Ed, Edd n Eddy. The show, produced by Danny Antonuccis A.K.A. Cartoons, will now debut on Monday January, 4, 1999, pushed back from its original November launch date.
NICKELODEON will air the Kablam! Life With Loopy Birthday Gala-bration on Friday, September 25 at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT). Created by Steven Holman and his San Francisco-based production company Wholesome Products, the special is a spin-off from the animated variety show Kablam! mixed-media skit, Life With Loopy.
* Wednesday, September 23. Burbank, California, U.S.A.
ASIFA-Hollywood presents Tom Sitos An Evening With... series featuring Lou Scheimer. Scheimer started out as a layout artist on the Paramount Popeye series. In 1967 he started Filmation Studios, which produced animated series such as Fat Albert, He-Man and The Archies. The program starts at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $7.00 at the door. For information call (818) 842-8330.
San Rafael, California-based INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC (ILM) has expanded its executive ranks with several internal promotions. GAIL CURREY has been upped to the newly-created position of vice president and chief operating officer, from her previous position as director of digital production operations. JEFF MANN has been promoted to executive in charge of creative operations, up from his previous post as director of production operations. ALAN KEITH has been named vice president/chief administrative officer, up from a position as director of business operations and finance at LUCAS DIGITAL.
Fox's prime-time animated series, "The Simpsons" received three Emmy Awards this year, including the craft categories. For the fifth time (1990, '91, '95, '97), the show won the award for "Outstanding Animated Series (for programming one hour or less)," beating out other nominees "King of the Hill" (Fox), "Cow & Chicken" (Cartoon Network) and "Dexter's Laboratory" (Cartoon Network). "The Simpsons" also won in the "Outstanding Music and Lyrics" category, for the song "You're Checkin' In (A Musical Tribute to the Betty Ford Center)," by composer Alf Clausen and lyricist Ken Keeler.
The 11th Society of Animation Studies Conference will be held in Australia for the first time. The conference, to be held in Brisbane in August or October 1999 (exact date to be confirmed), is timed to coincide with the Third Asia Pacific Triennial exhibition of Contemporary Art at the Queensland Art Gallery. The theme of the conference is "Animation: Contexts and Identities," with a focus on Asia Pacific animation. A call for papers and presentation proposals is now open. Proposals should contain a 50-word summary and a 250-word abstract.
London-based distributor LINK ENTERTAINMENT has promoted GENVIEVE DEXTER from sales manager to head of sales and acquisitions. She joined Link in 1997, leaving a post as sales manager at Eva Entertainment. Link also promoted ANNIKA BLUHM from script development executive to head of script development. She joined Link in 1996 and previously worked in development and as a script editor at BBC.
Friday, September 11. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
The 50th annual Prime Time Emmy Awards will take place, and will simultaneously air on the cable network, TV Land. The winner in the animated series category will be included in the next Animation Flash.
Saturday, September 12 - Sunday, September 13. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
BILL DENNIS has been named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Mumbai, India-based UTVI ANIMATION and RM/USL STUDIOS, the largest animation studio in India. Dennis will be responsible for overseeing and growing the operations of the companies' studios in Singapore and Bombay and for developing new animation studios around the region. He will also oversee all in-house development and co-production deals. Dennis, now based in Los Angeles, was previously president of Fil-Cartoons in Manila, a studio which serviced Hanna-Barbera and Turner Broadcasting before they merged with Time/Warner.
CARTOON NETWORK has promoted DEA CONNICK PEREZ to vice president of programming and production, a role in which she will direct all aspects of programming, including scheduling, acquisitions and program operations. She joined the Atlanta-based company in 1997 as program director, and was previously director of acquisitions at Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite/TV Land.
NELVANA LIMITED has promoted EMMANUÈLE PÉTRY to director of co-productions. She was previously director of the company's Paris office, where she will remain. Pétry has been responsible for securing co-production partners for Nelvana, including Neurones, Marathon and Ellipse. Also at Nelvana's Paris office, MARIE-LAURE MARCHAND has been promoted to director of international sales.
Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, is launching the largest expansion in its history. New attractions that will be added in the next 12 months include "Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin," an interactive film ride; "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh," a ride for youngsters which will replace "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride;" and a return of "The Main Street Electrical Parade," featuring floats of Dumbo, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and other animated characters.
HBO will launch its new 24-hour channel, HBO Family, in February 1999. The venture is being headed up by Sheila Nevins, senior vice president of original programming for HBO, and Dolores Morris, who left Children's Television Workshop (CTW) in June to become vice president of HBO Family [AF 6/2/98].
Humongous Entertainment has released the first two CD-Roms based on Nickelodeon's animated/live-action series, "Blue's Clues." "Blue's ABC Time Activities" is available for U.S. $19.99 and "Blue's Birthday Adventure" is $29.99. Both titles are Windows and Macintosh compatible, and feature games and educational activities aimed at 3-6 year-olds. The games are the first releases to come out of an exclusive, five-year worldwide deal with Nickelodeon.
