AWN Headline News

Fred Seibert, former President of Hanna-Barbera and MTV's original creative director, has been named President of MTV Networks Online, reporting directly to Tom Freston, Chairman and CEO, MTV Networks. MTV Networks Online will be based in New York along with a satellite office in San Mateo, California.

Manila-based ImagineAsia is the Asian studio chosen to do the production work for HEAVY METAL F.A.K.K. 2, the $15-million sequel to 1981's HEAVY METAL. The film is being co-produced by Canada's Cine-Groupe and Germany's Helkon Media for a U.S. Columbia TriStar release during the second half of 1999. The film is directed by Michael Coldeway, and stars Julie Strain and Billy Idol. This marks the feature debut of ImagineAsia, as well as one of the few times an Asian animation facility has been called upon to fully animate a feature film for a major U.S. studio.

Award-winning animation director David Chartier has launched Loop Filmworks (www.loopfilmworks.com), a new animation production company. His stop motion animated spot, "Talk Show," won both the Gold Medal and Grand Prix award at this year's New York Festival. Since starting in the industry in 1991, he has worked for Olive Jar Studio and Curious Pictures, and recently designed two stop motion/cut-paper animation campaigns for Nickelodeon. "I started Loop Filmworks as a means of rededicating myself to creating innovative animation for advertising," said Chartier.

* Wednesday, March 24 - Saturday, March 27. Auch, France.

For its 12th edition, the Festival National du Film d'Animation (National Animation Festival) moves to Auch, Central France from its previous home in Marly-le-Roi. Programs include screenings, panel discussions, tributes, exhibitions, the workshop "Introduction to Animation," and opportunities for audiences to meet the filmmakers. For more information, call ++ 33 (0)1-4543-2359, e-mail afca@afca.asso.fr or visit www.afca.asso.fr.

Hollywood-based CLASS-KEY CHEW-PO COMMERCIALS, in conjunction with Ogilvy & Mather, has created the newest Cocoa Pebbles cereal spot starring Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble. The 30-second commercial, directed by Raul Garcia, features a traditionally-drawn Fred and Barney placed in a computer-generated 3D video game environment, and eventually jumping into a live-action setting. The video game environment and other characters were created in Maya NT software. The 2D and 3D live action were combined using both Flame and Toon Boom software.

* Thursday, March 25. Santa Monica, California, U.S.A.

DH Institute of Media Arts (DHIMA) will have a year-end exhibit/screening of works from graduating and current students starting at 7:00 p.m. Demo reels and current projects will be shown, and visitors can enjoy beer, wine, snacks and music throughout the evening. Past DHIMA graduates have gone on to work at companies such as Digital Domain, SEGA, Namco and Alias|Wavefront. To RSVP, call (310) 899-9377 or e-mail rsvp@dhima.com

Sony Pictures Entertainment's (SPE) new family entertainment division (AF 03/09/99) has announced their first two development deals. The group has acquired worldwide rights to Kevin Eastman's UNDERWHERE, and has signed Eastman to develop an animated children's series based on his popular book. The series follows the adventures of 10-year-old Jacob who travels to UNDERWHERE, a land that exists in the same space as ours but can only be visited by those who possess the gift of imagination.

New York-based THE ATTIK has hired STEPHEN KINNEY as senior producer. In addition to managing creative aspects of projects and branding strategies, Kinney will focus largely on building creative resources and live-action production. Kinney, 28, joins The Attik from Pittard Sullivan (New York, NY), where from 1997-1999 he was a producer working on a variety of network broadcast branding projects including the launch package for Canadian cable sports network CTV Sportsnet, and projects for ESPN, AOL, CBS and Lifetime, among others.

The nominations for the 26th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, airing live on CBS, May 21, from New York's Madison Square Garden Theatre, have been announced. Unsurprisingly, the nomination leaders in the animation field are Warner Bros. and Disney. Among the major cartoon categories are:

Children's Animated Program:ARTHUR (PBS)DISNEY'S 101 DALMATIONS (ABC)DISNEY'S DOUG (ABC)STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS: ANIMANIACS (WB)STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS: PINKY & THE BRAIN (WB)

Special Class/Animated Program: