AWN Headline News

Paris, France-based Salsa Distribution has acquired the Latin Americantelevision distribution rights to the half-hour television special GOGWANA.Produced by London-based AARGH! Animation Ltd. for S4C, and directed byDeiniol Morris, GOGWANA is based on THE GOGS, the Stone Age family depictedin the claymation television series. In the special, after an earthquakedestroys the Gogs' cave, the family goes in search of a new home, and,along the way, encounters pygmies, dinosaur air-balloons, and pygmy-piloted

Milia 2000, the World's Interactive Content Marketplace, which takes placefrom February 14 - 18, 2000 in Cannes, France, is calling for entries forthe Milia New Talent Competition. Since its creation five years ago, theNew Talent Competition has provided interactive entertainment and new mediaprofessionals with the opportunity of discovering students' fresh creativeideas, and offered a new forum for recruiting new talent. A jury composedof international experts will meet in Paris in December in order to select

Bothel, Washington-based Humongous Entertainment, creators of children'ssoftware, and Nickelodeon are releasing BLUE'S TREASURE HUNT, a Blue'sClues CD-ROM learning adventure for preschoolers. Based on Nickelodeon'sprimetime special that aired in March 1999, BLUE'S TREASURE HUNT followsBLUE'S ABC TIME ACTIVITIES, BLUE'S BIRTHDAY and BLUE'S 123 TIME ACTIVITIES.In BLUE'S TREASURE HUNT, kids aged three to six team up with Steve and hisBlue's Clues pals to help search for the treasure chest that holds the keys

The United States Post Office has issued a Yellow Submarine stamp with TheBeatles which was illustrated by Robin Shepherd and Caleb Lawrence ofJacksonville, Florida-based The Robin Shepherd Group. The stamp wasofficially dedicated on September 17, 1999 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and thepackage of fifteen stamps will be available soon at post offices across thecountry. The "Celebrate the Century" stamp series features fifteen stampsfor each decade of the twentieth century. The final stamps were determined

DISNEY INTERACTIVE has promoted JAN SMITH to executive vice president ofDisney's software-development business. Smith will be responsible forworldwide operations of Disney Interactive, including product development,marketing, finance and administration, business and legal affairs, andcustomer support.

MIPCOM: International Film and Programme Market for TV, Video, Cable, andSatellite. Starting next week, thousands of producers, programmers andbroadcasters will converge on Cannes, France for the MIPCOM and MIP Juniormarkets. From Reed-Midem, the organizers of MIP-TV, MIP Asia and MILIA,MIPCOM is known as the place where international television deals happen.Among the properties being offered are Sony Wonder's LION OF OZ AND THEBADGE OF COURAGE, an animated musical prequel to THE WIZARD OF OZ;

Jeffrey Scott will speak at the Women In Animation Writers'Seminar Series at Saban Entertainment. Jeffrey has written over 450animation scripts and has won three Emmys and the Humanitas Prize. Hecurrently works on DRAGON TALES which can be seen on PBS. The event takesplace Thursday, October 14, 7:30 pm in Westwood, California, USA. This isthe last seminar in the series until January. For more information contactJean Wright at (818) 360-8321. RSVP required.

Buena Vista's supernatural thriller THE SIXTH SENSE, with visual effects byDreamQuest, finished third for the second consecutive weekend at the USboxoffice, grossing an estimated $8.5 million over the weekend, for a totalof $221.8 million. No other animation related films finished in the top ten.

London, UK-based commercial production company PASSION PICTURES has signedDAVID FEISS and EMMA CALDER as directors. Feiss, a long time veteran, isbest known as the creator of Cartoon Network's COW AND CHICKEN. Calder'srecent film, THE QUEEN'S MONASTERY, has won prizes at film festivalsthroughout the world. . . PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS has hired ANN MATHER asits executive vice president and chief financial officer. Mather has morethan eighteen years of financial operations experience, including seven

Glendale, California-based Galaxy Digimation has created a thirty-minuteanimated newscast for Universal Studios' The Amazing Adventures ofSpider-Man ride in Orlando, Florida. The Spider-Man ride integratesroller-coaster thrills, realistic motion simulation, and stereographic 3Dcomputer-generated effects while immersing riders in a story thattransforms them into active photojournalists. Galaxy Digimation's newscastplays on monitors while riders wait in line inside the newsroom of The

Montreal, Canada-based Motion International has started production onMARSUPILAMI, a 26 episode, half-hour animated television series based on acomic strip by Belgium artist Andrè Franquin. French producer Marathon isco-producing, and the series will be aired by Tele-Quebec, as well asother, as yet undetermined, international broadcasters. Marsupilami is afunny animal-type character with yellow fur, black spots and many talents.He first appeared in 1952 in SPIROU MAGAZINE, a Belgian comic book. A

The third annual British Animation Awards is calling for entries from UKanimators. The awards will be announced on Thursday, March 9, 2000.Deadline for entries is December 1, 1999. For more information Tel. 0171383 4387; or Fax 0171 388 3782.