Geographical Region: Europe

This October MIPCOM and MIPCOM Junior will once again bring together thetelevision producers, distributors, buyers, and programmers of the world inCannes, France. MIPCOM Junior takes place October 2-3, and MIPCOM takesplace October 4-8. MIPCOM will also include for the first time a three dayconference on the convergence of TV and Internet from October 4-6.Featuring special keynotes, strategic panels and case studies/workshops,MIPCOM will bring together players from the TV industry, new media networks

Toronto-based NELVANA has hired Cathy Laughton as managing director of itsLondon-based operations. Laughton will be responsible for the overallmanagement of the UK office. Her responsibilities include the acquisitionof new properties for production/licensing development, sales to the UK,Germany, Scandinavia, and Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxemborg),and securing co-production opportunities. Laughton joins Nelvana from theJim Henson Company where she served as director of international televisiondistribution.

On September 14, Kid Rhino will release the soundtrack album for the upcoming feature length Scooby-Doo video, SCOOBY-DOO! AND THE WITCH'S GHOST, which is scheduled for release on October 5. In SCOOBY-DOO! AND THE WITCH'S GHOST, Scooby and Mystery Inc. travel to a small New England town to learn why it's being spooked by witches' ghosts. Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Machine will appear in the flesh at the Rhino Retrofest, August 13 to 15, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California, USA. Suggested retail price for the CD is US$13.98 and US$9.98 for the cassette.

The Action Young Independent Talent Award is an annual contest organized byFilms Action Inc., in partnership with Ina-Imagina. This 3D contest's goalis to promote new 3D computer artists talents. Prizes include hardware andsoftware packages. The best animation will be transferred to 35 mm. Entrydeadline is October 10, 1999. The festival takes place in Paris, FranceJanuary 28-February 3, 2000. For more information contact Films Action,Laurent Rodon, 25 rue Le Peletier, 75009 Paris, France; Tel: +33 1 47 70 45

The Annual Society for Animation Studies (SAS) Conference will be hosted byGriffith University and will feature papers by Maureen Furniss on motioncapture, Chris Robinson on Estonian animation, Richard Leskosky onanimating between the lines, Jean-Paul Goergen on hand-drawn sound inGermany in the 1930s, Suzanne R. Williams on the aesthetics of computergames, Marilyn Carney on Australian women animators, Bryan Barker on theimpact of CinemaScope on animation production, Cathyrn Vasseleu on "Time

Animation filmmaker, teacher, and author John Canemaker has been awarded aRockefeller Foundation residency grant in Bellagio, Italy. From July 27through August 25, he will stay at the 16th century Villa Serbelloni onLake Como, where he will work on a storyboard for a personal animated film.From August 31 through September 5, he will be a guest of FANTOCHE, theSwiss Animation Festival in Baden, where he will present twolecture/screenings on Animated Surrealism and Jazztoons: Jazz and Animation.

CARTOON has announced this year's nominees for the coveted Cartoon d'Or.Making the list for best European animated short films are: L'ARME DUCROCODILE by Eric Blesin (Belgium), EL CARMINANTE by Debra Smith (UK),JOLLY ROGER by Mark Baker (UK), MIGRATION by Constantin Chamski (France),LE CYCLOPE DE LA MER by Philippe Julien (France), and SALTKVERNEN by PjotrSapegin (Norway). The annual Cartoon Forum, where the Cartoon d'Or isawarded, is organized by AEFA Cartoon, the European Association for