Toys R Nelvana

Through Nelvana Marketing, Playmates Toys Holdings will manufacture, sell and distribute toys based on the comic book series WildC.A.T.s by Jim Lee and the Nelvana animated television series, Jim Lee’s WildC.A.T.s Covert Action Team. The first seven action figures will be available in stores by the end of January. Playmates will support the toy launch with a print campaign in the new year followed by television advertising in February and March.

New Baton marketing v-p

At Baton Broadcasting, Paul Robertson has been named senior vice-president, marketing, a member of the office of the president, and president of Baton Broadcast Sales.

Hibbins joins Warner

Leslie Hibbins, formerly senior promotions co-ordinator for CanWest Global Television, has replaced Sally Thoun as promotion supervisor at Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. Thoun becomes manager, publicity and marketing, based out of Burbank, Calif

Sundance screenings

Jeremy Podeswa’s Eclipse will have its u.s. premiere Jan. 22 at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Produced by Camelia Frieberg, executive produced by Wolfram Tichy and distributed internationally (excluding the u.s.) and in Canada by Malofilm Distribution, Eclipse has also been invited to the Berlin Film Festival in February.

The film has sold to Argentina, Brazil, Germany, India and Spain, and will open across Canada in March.

Other Canadian films to be screened at the Sundance festival include Atom Egoyan’s Exotica and Mina Shum’s Double Happiness.

Atom-ic explosion

CBC has purchased Atom Egoyan’s Genie-sweeping Exotica and Richard Lewis’ Whale Music for broadcast on its English- and French-language networks.

New CanPro categories

Specialty services and independent producers are invited to compete in eight new categories at the 1995 CanPro competition, being held April 1-4 in Quebec City. The new competition categories are: Canadian program (series), Canadian program (special), Canadian short and fills, on-air promotion for a Canadian series or special, total promotion campaign, promotion for community involvement project, promotion for program audience-building contest, and image promotion.

Two additional categories for private broadcasters have also been added to CanPro `95: in-house commercial for local or regional broadcast and Canadian mini-feature (other than news).

The deadline for entries is Jan. 11.