* Toronto animation and F/X house Calibre Digital Pictures has announced the return to the fold of veteran compositor Gudrun Heinze. Heinze’s decade in the business has included credits on the features Spy Kids II, Undercover Brother, Panic Room and Jason X, the miniseries The Arrow, which won a Gemini for best visual effects, and numerous other TV and commercial productions. She has also worked at F/X shops Hybride Technologies, Command Post/TOYBOX, Spin Productions and GVFX.

In her new post at Calibre, Heinze, working alongside senior compositor Elizabeth Holmes, will be working on the Inferno, designing F/X and handling on-set supervision.

* Sound designer Craig Henighan has returned to Toronto audio post house Sound Dogs after a tour of duty at Sound Dogs’ Los Angeles facility. While in L.A., Henighan was involved in the sound design for features including Ali and Red Dragon. His return to the Toronto shop comes as Sound Dogs gets ready to tackle the Knightscove Entertainment feature Blizzard, 49th Parallel’s Nothing, directed by Vincenzo Natali, and the new ABC/Disney drama series Veritas.

* Mainframe Entertainment president Brett Gannon will be on extended medical leave from the company with the intent of returning once fully recovered, the Vancouver-based computer animation company has announced. Gannon’s responsibilities will be shared by Canada-based CFO George Lawton and Mark Fleischer, president of Mainframe USA in Los Angeles, until his return.

* Norman Spector, former chief of staff to prime minister Brian Mulroney and Canadian ambassador to Israel, will expand his on-air role at The New VI in Victoria to appear daily as a political commentator. He is also a panelist on Right On, a New VI show on B.C. politics.