AWN Headline News

The Hollywood Film Festival is currently accepting entries for its third annual festival at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, August 4-9, 1999. Both short and long-form animated films are being accepted for the animation category. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 1999 with an entry fee of U.S. $50 per film. For entry forms and additional details visit www.hollywoodfestival.com or call (310) 288-1882.

The Kids' WB! has announced two new shows for their 1999-2000 fall lineup. The first is ON THE ROPES, a live-action high school wrestling series, from the producing/directing team of Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins (KENAN & KEL, ALL THAT, VARSITY BLUES). The second freshman show, DETENTION, is an animated entry from Warner Bros. Television Animation, a comedy about eight mismatched preteens who regularly end up in afterschool detention.

Steve Oedekerk has stepped down as the director of Warner Bros. big-budgeted live-action/animated remake of THE INCREDIBLE MR. LIMPET after months of bickering between him and the studio. The script is currently being reworked by MULAN writer Rita Hsaio. Jim Carrey, the film's lead, will wait to see the new script before making any decisions on his involvement with the film. The film is being produced by Barry Levinson, Paula Weinstein and Bill Gerber.

The highly anticipated DISNEY'S MICKEY MOUSEWORKS will join the ABC Saturday morning children's lineup on May 1, 1999 at 12:00 noon (ET/PT). The new half-hour series features cartoons of varying lengths (12, 7-1/2, 6, and 1-1/2 minutes) featuring Disney's classic stable of stars such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto and Minnie Mouse.

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has formed a new division (unnamed as of publication) to develop character-based entertainment primarily targeted to the kids market in live action, CGI, cel animation and other media. This is in addition to the family films, which will continue to be developed and produced by Columbia Pictures. Sander Schwartz has been named president of this new entertainment group, in addition to his current responsibilities as head of SPE's Columbia TriStar Television Children's Programming, which will fold into this new division.

In a move to consolidate, DreamWorks Television Animation has closed down, and the direct-to-video unit has merged with the feature division. A DreamWorks spokeswoman stated, "We are currently reorganizing our animation divisions so we are all operating under one umbrella. While we have decided not to continue pursuing television animation opportunities at this time, we are continuing to develop and produce animation for both feature films and direct-to-video." The TV division, spearheaded by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg, opened shop in 1996 headed by Gary Krisel and David Simon.

Career Boot Camp, presented by the L.A. Chapter's of SIGGRAPH and Women in Animation, is a one-day intensive computer animation-geared event taking place Sunday, March 7 from 9-5 p.m. at the Universal Hilton in Universal City, California. The program is designed to inform people interested in breaking into the computer animation and visual effects industries. Attendees will hear from industry professionals from such companies as Industrial Light & Magic, the Walt Disney Company, Pacific Data Images (PDI), Tippett Studios, Area 51 and numerous others.

* Friday, March 5 - Saturday, March 6. Glendale, California, USA.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominations for its 51st British Academy Film Awards. Nominees for The Best Short Animated Film are:

1001 NIGHTS, Yukio Sonoyama/Mike Smith.

THE CANTERBURY TALES, Aida Zyablikova/Renat Zinnurov/Ashley Potter/Dave Antrobus/Claire Jennings/ Mic Graves/Joanna Quinn/Les Mills.

GOGWANA, Helen Nabarro/Deiniol Morris/Sion Jones/Michael Mort/Joe Turner.

HUMDRUM, Carla Shelley/Julie Lockhart/Peter Peake.

The Game Show Network has signed a deal with Interactive Television Entertainment (ITE-USA) to start airing the live, real-time animated action game THROUT AND NECK in the U.S. Using technologies developed by ITE-USA, home viewers are able to control the movement of the animated characters using their telephone keypads to input commands. In the game, Throut and Neck are two unruly beasts who somehow wind up in SheepHeaven, a mind-numbing world of annoyingly cute and adorable sheep. The players at home control their monsters to see which one can defeat the most sheep and return home.