The 17th annual Brussels Animated Film and Cartoon Festival occurs February 17 to March 1, 1998, in the Belgian capitol.

The festival takes place in four venues: Auditorium 44, a 900-seat theater, the Belgian Comic Strips Center, the SAS Radisson hotel and, new this year, Cinema Nova, a 200-seat theater for press and professional screenings.

The festival is unique because it is a non-competitive event: there is no jury that awards prizes.

It is part of a network of eight European film festivals that submit films to the Association europžene du film d’animation for its prestigious Golden Cartoon award. The Golden Cartoon, delivered in September, goes to the best European animated short of the year.

Approximately 30,000 people attended last year’s festival, half of them children. Attendees enjoyed over 100 events, including screenings of feature films, animated shorts, and a section devoted to computer-generated images and special effects.

For more information, call 322-534-4125, send e-mail to folioscope@skynet.be or visit the Web site at www.awn.com/folioscope/festival.