AWN Headline News

AWN's Web Animation Guide is the place for what's new on the Net. This week's installment features a Distant Corners' Halloween horror marathon, AtomFilms' Animation Showdown and much, much more.

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Also every week AWN's associate editor Rick DeMott highlights what he thinks is the top new toon in cyberspace in "Rick's Picks!"

* Thursday, November 23 Sunday, November 26, 2000. Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

* Thursday, November 23 Saturday, November 25, 2000. Perugia, Italy.

* Monday, November 27 Friday, December 15, 2000. Hollywood, California, U.S.A.

West Virginia 3D animation house Destiny Images has wrapped on two 3D animated educational series entitled LETTER TV and MATH MONSTERS. Twenty-six 5-minute episodes of LETTER TV were produced for The Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT). Destiny wrote, directed and produced each episode, which is based on a separate letter in the English alphabet. The second season of LETTER TV is in production and will include letter combinations like "sh" and "th." For Math Monsters Inc., Destiny animated and designed 13 episodes of MATH MONSTERS.

Denmark's A. Film has a hit animated feature on their hands. HELP! I'M A FISH opened in its home country at the end of September and held the top spot for two weeks. In addition to its success in theaters, a song from the film has topped the Danish pop charts. A. Film partner Stefan Fjeldmark wrote and co-directed the film with Michael Hegner. Fjeldmark was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the short WHEN LIFE DEPARTS and served as an animator on such feature films as FERNGULLY, A TROLL IN CENTRAL PARK and THE PEBBLE AND THE PENGUIN.

Mattel Media has begun shipping THE WILD THORNBERRYS RAMBLER game for Game Boy Color. The new game, based on the popular Nickelodeon animated series, is comprised of 6 different games featuring the series' characters. In addition, players can challenge each other in a special two-player mode. "Mattel Media seeks to bring entertainment to children in all of their favorite ways," said Amy Boylan, executive vice president of Mattel Media.

Luxembourgs audiovisual production group, Oniria, is continuing its expansion with a new subsidiary studio in Berlin. The studio will be called Oniria Film and will handle pre-production (graphic design, scripts, storyboards, etc.), production management and post-production for the company's TV series. Thierry Schiel and Sophia Kolokouri have set up the new arm and Oniria Production administrator Nina Kolokouri will serve as general manager. Currently, Oniria Film is working on 52 15-minute episodes of the TV series BOBS BEACH.

The British Academy of Film & Television Arts has announced the winners of its third annual interactive entertainment awards. Lego & Steven Spielberg Moviemaker Set, which gives kids a virtual production studio in a box, took home two prizes in the learning and childrens categories. Cartoon Network U.K. Online won the entertainment Website award over Netherlands-based toon site ExtraTainment.com.

Tiger Aspect, the producers of the international hit live-action series MR. BEAN, have awarded Varga Holdings the job of animating the new MR. BEAN cartoon series. Varga will create 52 eleven-minute episodes with London-based Richard Purdum Studios handling the design. Robin Driscoll, who served as the original writer on the live-action series, will be scribing the new toon version and Rowan Atkinson, who plays the live-action Bean, is involved closely with the production and will voice the animated character. The series is scheduled to air on ITB.

* Monday, November 13 Tuesday, December 28, 2000. World Wide Web. Entry Deadline: November 9, 2000