Tagged With: Special

Canal+ has picked up Bardels award-winning holiday special, THE CHRISTMAS ORANGE special for its Christmas 2003 season to air in France, Monaco, Mauritius, Switzerland and Africa.

"THE CHRISTMAS ORANGE is exactly the kind of moral tale we like to have on Canal+", says Sandra Ouaiss, acquisition director of fiction & animation at Canal+ international acquisition.

The American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood will present the 1st Festival of Japanese Anime from May 2-14, 2003. It features a cross-section of the newest and most challenging work from Japan, including the U.S. premieres of THE CAT RETURNS, the mondo-insane TAMALA2010 A PUNK CAT IN SPACE, the lovely fable PRINCESS ARETE, the long-awaited three-part anthology film MEMORIES, and Miramax Films POKÉMON 5, plus sneak previews of as-yet-unreleased episodes from cult-hit series including CRUSH GEAR TURBO, AURA BATTLER DUNBINE, BRIGADOON, SCRYED, PLEASE, TEACHER, YOURE UNDER ARREST, DNA2, READ OR DIE, RAHXEPHON, PARASITE DOLLS and a very special sneak peak at THE MATRIX-inspired THE ANIMATRIX, with all nine episodes shown for the first time.

While most of Nelvana's computer animated programs have been done with the assistance of outside studios, the Toronto-based production house, which is part of Corus Entertainment, turned out an entire 3D CGI one-hour special, ç, completely in-house, now airing on Nickelodeon. It premiered in primetime March 31 with rebroadcasts on April 1 and 14 at noon. The studio is becoming increasingly more self-contained, under the direction CGI pioneer and production chief Scott Dwyer. Based upon the best-selling book series by acclaimed children's author, David Kirk, MISS SPIDER stars Brooke Shields as the voice of a full-grown spider who discovers she doesn't know everything there is to know about being a terrific mom. Having been adopted herself when she was young, Miss Spider's lessons multiply when she and her young ones try to reunite an abandoned chicken egg with its mother. Nelvana used primarily Maya and combustion to create the rich, colorful natural environments and soft characters. The Nelvana production in association with Callaway & Kirk was exec. produced by Michael Hirsh, Dyer, Kirk, Nicholas Callaway and Nadine va der Velde. Pam Lehn served as supervising producer and Susie Grondin was producer. Mike Fallows directed the script by van der Velde while Mike Shiell was animation director. While animation remained at Nelvana, voice recording was done in Canada and the U.S. Tony Jay as the voice of the evil Spiderus was recorded at Voice Trax West in Los Angeles. Shields and Rick Moranis (the voice of her husband Holley) were recorded at Magno Sound in New York City. The majority of the voices were recorded at Studio 306 in Toronto under the direction of Jessie Thomson. Nelvana also produced in-house the ROLIE POLIE OLIE: GREAT DEFENDER OF FUN special last year that aired on Disney in the U.S. and CBC in Canada. MISS SPIDER'S SUNNY PATCH KIDS will air later this year on TELETOON in Canada. The special is sponsored by U.S. retailer Target, which just launched a lifestyle brand for children called Sunny Patch, in stores across America featuring images of Miss Spider and friends on clothing, garden tools and home décor.