Geographical Region: Europe

Montreal, Canada-based Motion International has started production onMARSUPILAMI, a 26 episode, half-hour animated television series based on acomic strip by Belgium artist Andrè Franquin. French producer Marathon isco-producing, and the series will be aired by Tele-Quebec, as well asother, as yet undetermined, international broadcasters. Marsupilami is afunny animal-type character with yellow fur, black spots and many talents.He first appeared in 1952 in SPIROU MAGAZINE, a Belgian comic book. A

Toronto-based NELVANA LIMITED has promoted EMMANUELE PETRY to vicepresident of Nelvana Europe International Limited. In her new position,Petry will be responsible for supervising the company's London and Parisoffices. She will continue to investigate co-production and financingopportunities in Europe, and she will also oversee the distribution of TV,video, theatrical and merchandising rights in countries outside NorthAmerica.

Manga Video is releasing MACROSS PLUS on DVD on October 12, 1999. MACROSSPLUS, directed by Shoji Kawamori, is a DTV (direct-to-video) which is basedon the original Japanese TV series SUPERDIMENSIONAL FORTRESS MACROSS, whichwas used as the basis for the 1980s American TV series ROBOTECH. MACROSSPLUS is set approximately thirty years after the original MACROSS and justbefore the events in the Japanese TV series MACROSS 7. In MACROSS PLUS, theuniverse's most popular virtual reality singer, Sharon Apple, comes alive

A.D.V. Films is releasing the following anime titles in the US. On November9: MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO VOLUME 1 - INVASION! - An unorthodox crewfights to save Earth from annihilation by Martians; COMPILER 2 - It'sCompiler versus Compiler in deadly showdown!; and ORIGINAL DIRTY PAIRVOLUME 4 - Kei and Yuri stumble upon a child who is the sole survivor of amass murder committed over twenty years ago. November 23: BUBBLEGUM CRISISVOLUME 2 - TRIAL BY FIRE - Sylia's brother Mackey joins the team as the

The 19th Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival takes place February28-March, 11 2000. The deadlines for entries is November 1, 1999. Each yearthe Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival programs the crème de lacrème in international animation, and chooses its candidate for the Cartoond'Or. For more information contact The Brussels Cartoon and Animated FilmFestival, Rue de la Rhétorique 19, 1060 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: 32 2 534 41

The Animated Castles festival is an international animation festival in theform of a show. All events, including the international competition and theItalian competition of short films, the conferences, round tables,interviews and previews, are presented in one big venue. This year, thefestival pays tribute to Marv Newland, Joanna Quinn, Carlos Trillo andRoberto Gavioli. For more information contact The Animated Castles, c/oConsorzio Imprese Castelli Romani, Corso Gramsci 110, 00045 Genzano, Rome,

The tradeshow for television programming producers and distributors takesplace October 4-8 in Cannes, France. Basque, Spain-based animation studioIRUSOIN is nearing completion of KARRAMARRO (CRAB ISLAND), a made fortelevision animated feature with rights available for worldwide TV andvideo release. The original story is about a group of kind, song-lovingpirates, focused on luckless Dimitri, a pirate who cannot sing, and aparrot who is the only clue to tracking down a fabulous pirate's treasure.

NPAR 2000 is the first internationalsymposium dedicated to non-photorealistic animation and rendering,including cartoon animation systems and techniques. It takes place at theInternational Animated Film Festival of Annecy, France, July 5-9, 2000 inconjunction with ACM/SIGGRAPH and Eurographics. The symposium will bringtogether researchers and practitioners from academia and industry, showcasecutting-edge research in non-photorealistic animation and rendering systemsand techniques, and present examples of these techniques in original