Category: People

In the continuing crisis at CINAR Corp., husband and wife co-founders, Micheline Charest and Ronald Weinberg, have stepped down after senior VP and CFO Hasanain Panju was fired when US$122 million was found to have disappeared into investments without board approval. With tax fraud allegations floating in the skies, Charest will leave her chairman and co-CEO seat, while Weinberg will give up his president and co-CEO position. The couple will remain as leaders and directors of the company.

ATOMFILMS has announced that ERIC CALDERON has joined the company as

Animation and Digital Media Development Executive and RICHARD BARTON has

joined their board of directors. Before moving to AtomFilms, Calderon was

the former Director of Animation Development at MTV. Calderon will be in

charge of recruiting and developing animation and digital media talent,

content and technologies. At MTV, Calderon oversaw MTV animation series

such as: CARTOON SUSHI, CELEBRITY DEATHMATCH, DARIA, DOWNTOWN, and the

RIOT, a digital effect house, breaks out with the naming of a new visual

effects producer ALIX EGLIS and visual effects artist CLAUS HANSEN. As a

freelancer, Eglis has produced commercials for Santa Monica,

California-based Crew Cuts and Lost Planet. For Culver City,

California-based Mars Media, she produced the R&B group, TLC's "Unpretty"

video and Will Smith's "Wild, Wild West" video. Eglis will oversee projects

for Riot, acting as a liaison from the client to the artists. Prior to

Hamberg, Germany-based IGEL MEDIA AG, an independent distributor of family

programming, has announced ED GALTON as their new head of distribution.

Galton will head worldwide distribution for the company focusing on

strengthening its operations outside of Germany. Previously at Gaumont as

VP/Head of Television and Video Sales, Galton organized the pre-sales and

distribution for such titles as OGGY AND THE COCKROACHES, SPACE GOOFS and

HIGHLANDER, THE RAVEN.

ATOMFILMS, a leader in next-generation entertainment, announced that JOHN

MARCOM, former President of Time Inc. International, will join as the new

senior VP of worldwide revenue and media strategies. In his new role,

Marcom will coordinate worldwide on-line and off-line sales of AtomFilms'

growing library of short-form entertainment. During his stint at Time Inc.,

Marcom oversaw a catalog of more than a dozen national and international

news, business and lifestyle publications. Joining Time Inc. in 1993,

LYLLE BREIER was promoted to the newly created position of senior vice

president, special events, for THE WALT DISNEY STUDIOS. Breier will be

responsible for developing and overseeing a vast array of worldwide special

events relating to the domestic and international releases of the studio's

motion-picture and video product. Over her ten year career at Disney,

Breier has helped to stage some of Disney's major events, including the

1995 premiere of POCAHONTAS in Central Park, the 1997 "HERCULES Premiere

CINAR ENTERTAINMENT has filled the newly created seat of president with

PETER MOSS. In his position effective March 1, Moss will focus on

developing CINAR's entertainment business in North America, Latin America

and Asia. Before joining CINAR, Moss served as programming and production

VP for YTV, Canada's youth network. Moss has regularly worked in pre-school

programming with the Children's Television Network and the CBC.

On February 4, CARL ROSENDAHL, founder and chairman of Pacific Data Images,

announced to his staff that he is exiting PDI after 20 years "to pursue

other interests." Rosendahl's remaining stake in the visual effects house

has been acquired by DreamWorks. Previously owning 40% of the Palo Alto,

California-based facility, DreamWorks now commands 80% of the company. More

details are soon to be announced.

ARNOLD RIFKIN, whose Cheyenne Enterprises, LLC, is currently partnered with

such talent as Bruce Willis, Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover, has joined

the Board of Directors of on-line entertainment company MediaTrip.com.

Rifkin was a founding partner in the talent agency, Triad Artists before it

was acquired by the William Morris Agency in 1992. Soon after Rifkin went

on head the Motion Picture Department at William Morris before being named

SYCONET.COM, INC., a leading U.S. distributor of anime videos and DVDs,

announced that ANNELIESE CHANG will become their new director of marketing.

Chang will be responsible for the development of sales and marketing for

the company. Before joining SyCoNet.com, Chang held a management position

at Disney Consumer Products-Licensing, where she managed the product

development for over 20 toy licensees on various Disney properties

including TOY STORY 2, DINOSAUR, MICKEY MOUSE and WINNIE THE POOH. Prior to

ACCLAIM ENTERTAINMENT INC., a leading worldwide interactive entertainment

company, has appointed JAY ANDRONACO as manager of public relations and

BRADFORD W. LOUCKS as vice president of sales. Andronaco will oversee

public relations initiatives for Acclaim's recently announced Extreme

Championship Wrestling (ECW) license, including the launch of the first

video game title on February 17, 2000, ECW HARDCORE REVOLUTION. In

addition, Andronaco will manage media relation initiatives for select