Fans of short-form animation should mark their calendars. The award-winning 'Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf' is coming to American audiences via PBS. The Great Performances series will air the animated short on March 26 [link]. As usual with public television, check your local listings and ready the pledge-drive couch.

The stop-motion film is the latest of many adaptions of the popular children's story, which is told through music and words, as well as most every available format since Prokofiev penned it in 1936.

This version from the UK, Poland, and Norway won the animated short Oscar over an impressive field: 'I Met the Walrus' (set to John Lennon's words); also from Canada, the haunting journey of 'Madame Tutli-Putli'; the ethereal 'Even Pigeons Go to Heaven' from France; and 'My Love', the Russian and Japanese animation in oil paint.

The world tour doesn't stop there. Salerno, Italy is gearing up for the 12th annual "Cartoons on the Bay" Festival on Television Animation. Think Cannes for t.v. toons. The festival will showcase 176 animated programs from 24 countries from April 10 through 13. Forty toons from Canada, Italy, USA, UK, France, Japan, Malaysia, Ireland, India, Denmark, Germany, Spain, South Korea, and Hungary are up for the 2008 Pulcinella Awards. Check out the nominees at the festival website.