AWN Headline News

The Third Annual MadCat International Women's Film Festival will feature independent and experimental works by women from around the world. MadCat will be featured on Tuesday evenings in September, 1999 at El Rio Outdoor Cinema, a seasonal screening venue in San Francisco. MadCat is seeking innovative and challenging works by women. All lengths and genres will be considered. Entry Fees range from US$ 10.00 to $30.00 per entry (pay whatever you can afford!). No fee is requested for international entrants. Entry deadline is July 10, 1999. For more information contact MadCat c/o A.

On Wednesday, June 23 at 7:30 pm in Burbank, California, Jerry Beck and TomSito will host a two hour presentation of the worst cartoons ever made. Theprogram will include one episode each of such cartoons as BUCKY AND PEPITO,POW WOW THE INDIAN BOY, THE FUNNY COMPANY, JOHNNY CYPHER IN DIMENSION ZERO,a King Features POPEYE cartoon, a very violent HERMAN AND KATNIP cartoon,THE BIG WORLD OF LITTLE ADAM, SUPER PRESIDENT and much more. All cartoonswill be projected in 16 mm with monophonic sound, and junk food will be

Warner Bros. is combining its feature and TV animation divisions under one roof in Sherman Oaks, California, and TV Animation President Jean MacCurdy will take on the responsibilities of supervising the production of Warner's animated features. Lorenzo di Bonaventura, President of Worldwide Theatrical Production, will continue to supervising the creative side of animated feature production.

Adobe has announced Adobe Photoshop 5.5 and Adobe Photoshop Limited Edition (LE) software. Photoshop LE offers tools for correcting and enhancing photos, compositing multiple images, creating original artwork with a variety of special effects, and outputting to desktop printers and common Web file formats. For graphics professionals, Adobe Photoshop 5.5 software provides additional precision and control, broader color mode support, and dynamic Web capabilities.

Interactive Learning, a Division of Macromedia, Inc., has announced Attain Objects for Dreamweaver, an extension application for Dreamweaver which provides developers with a set of easy-to-use templates for creating Web-based learning and complex interactions that would otherwise be difficult and time consuming to build. The new release is compatible with Dreamweaver 2, Macromedia's software for professional Web site design.

The London Effects & Animation Festival (LEAF) is part of Digital Media World, a creative technology event. LEAF, a leading European CGI event, will award the best work in the categories of Animated Commercials, Live Action Commercials, Short Film, Music Video, Feature Film, Student, Titles, Idents and Strings, Education and Simulation. The deadline for entries is September 17, 1999. For more information call 01244 393261; or visit www.digmedia.co.uk.

TARZAN, the new Disney animated feature that is based on TARZAN OF THE APESby Edgar Rice Burroughs, finished first in the weekend US boxoffice race,taking in $34,361,342. This is the second highest opening for an animatedfilm after THE LION KING which opened with $40.9 million in June 1994. STARWARS EPISODE 1: THE PHANTOM MENACE, the digital effects driven action filmfrom Lucasfilm, finished fourth, grossing $18,859,021 to bring its total to$328,072,869; Universal's THE MUMMY, with digital effects by ILM, finished

Celebrating its 17th year, Florida's oldest film and video festivalcontinues its commitment to encourage, support, and foster independent filmmaking. The festival will tour throughout Central Florida and include such cities as Orlando, Melbourne, Gainesville, and Tampa. The festival accepts film and video shorts and features in all formats, genres, and categories (including animation, documentary, experimental, narrative, music videos, and features). More information, including the entry form, is available at www.cffvf.org. The late deadline is June 25, 1999 (late fees apply).

Data Motion Arts (DMA) has created the host character "Phred" for the new Noggin network. DMA's creative director Tony Caio was asked to create a character who is interactive, works on TV and on-line, and appeals to 6-to-12 year-olds. The result is a 2D character that appears tattooed on your forehead of different live-action faces. The PHRED ON YOUR HEAD show debuted on Nickelodeon on June 6th at 12:00 pm. You can view Phred on-line at www.noggin.com/build. Noggin is an educational TV channel and website, developed as a joint venture of Nickelodeon and Children's Television Workshop.

Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. continues its support of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund with the 1999 Spring Breaks. Over the last several years, Diamond has redoubled its efforts to turn these regional industry gatherings into fund-raisers for the CBLDF through live and silent auctions, special giveaways, and other events. This year, the Spring Breaks raised more than $2,400 to benefit the Fund. The Spring Breaks are the natural descendants of the annual Diamond Retailer Seminars and are sponsored by Diamond in conjunction with DC, Dark Horse, Image, Marvel, and other publishers.