AWN Headline News

The Nashville Independent Film Festival (NIFF) (formerly known as Sinking Creek) is accepting submissions for its next edition, June 9-13, 1999. A first prize in the animation category at this festival will qualify your film for Academy Award consideration. Entry fees vary, and the deadline is December 4. The first 100 entries will receive a free pass to the festival. For entry forms and information, visit www.nashvillefilmfestival.org or e-mail niffilm@bellsouth.net.

Hollywood Shorts, a monthly short film series that presents new shorts andtheir directors to the Hollywood film community, is seeking submissions.Three shorts, including one animated film, will be featured each month; thenext screenings are October 11, November 15 and December 13, 1998. Eachfilm must be no longer than 40 minutes and the entry fee is $5 per film.The deadline for the October screening is September 15, however, lateentries will be considered for future screenings. For information, contact

Animation historian John Canemaker is working on his eighth animationhistory book, titled "Walt Disney's Nine Old men and the Art of Animation"to be published by Hyperion in 2001. It will contain detailed biographicalportraits of Les Clark, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Marc Davis, WardKimball, Milt Kahl, John Lounsbery, Eric Larson and Wolfgang Reitherman.The book will also discuss the early Disney animators who influenced "theNine," such as Ub Iwerks, Norman Ferguson, Fred Moore, Ham Luske, Vladimir

Thursday, September 3 - Sunday, September 6. Lake Buena Vista, Florida, U.S.A.

The Disney Institute, a vacation resort, hosts "Mulan: An Animation Experience," a four-day event which gives guests a hands-on look at the making of the animated feature "Mulan." The program includes animation workshops, appearances by the film's supervising animator Mark Henn, CGI supervisor Eric Guaglione, head of special effects David Tidgwell and voice actress June Foray. For pricing and information, call (800) 496-6337. This event will be repeated September 11-14.

Thursday, September 3. Melbourne, Australia.

Digital Divas, a networking group for women working in new media, hosts a meeting at Open Channel, 13 Victoria Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne. Existing members include Kathy Mueller, Kiera Poelsma and Maree Woolley. For information, contact jo@tantamount.com.au.

Thursday, September 3. Studio City, California, U.S.A.

Screenmusic Studios hosts the first meeting of Women In Animation Los Angeles' new Voice Over Group from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Admission is free, but RSVP is essential. Call Muriel Whitaker at (310) 412-2719. Screenmusic Studio is located at 11700 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. For directions, call Screenmusic directly at (818) 753-6040.

Tuesday, September 8. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.

Women In Animation Los Angeles hosts a mixer at Lumpy Gravy, the restaurant/gallery co-owned by Gabor Csupo of Klasky Csupo. The event is the second in a series of fundraising animation mixers that will take place on the second Tuesday of every month. The event will feature the original "napkin cartoon" drink special: draw a cartoon on a napkin, get a discount! Lumpy Gravy is located at 7311 Beverly Blvd. For information call (323) 934-9400.

San Francisco-based WILD BRAIN INC. produced "Super Mom II," a sequel to their original Clio-award-winning spot, "Super Mom," for Coca-Cola. The 30-second, cel-animated commercial was directed by Mike Smith and Dave Marshall.

New York-based J.J. SEDELMAIER PRODUCTIONS created a second animated commercial for Quilted Northern Tissue, working again with illustrator/designer Bonnie Timmons ("Caroline in the City" opening credits). The new, 30-second spot, titled "Grandma Mimi" was directed by J.J. Sedelmaier, and the head animator was David Wachtenheim.

Toronto, Canada-based TOPIX/MAD DOG created 22 animated effects sequences for the first annual Golden Marble Awards show. Director of animation William Cameron used 3D Studio MAX for 3D, and Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and After Effects for 2D sequences, with final compositing done on Flint and Flame.

PACIFIC DATA IMAGES (PDI) has licensed Alias|Wavefront's compositing software, Composer, for use in its computer animation production. This represents a significant outside purchase for the studio, which mainly uses in-house proprietary software. PDI's director of research and development, Ken Pearce explained, "It's often difficult to incorporate off-the-shelf solutions into our proprietary graphics pipeline, but the openness of Composer makes it easy to integrate."

JON VEIN has been promoted from senior to executive vice president at FILM ROMAN, a role in which he will continue to oversee the company's reach into feature films, including "There Goes the Neighborhood," a live-action/animation film in development with Universal.