The Festival for Industry Experts

World-renowned animators such as Stephen Hillenburg (SpongeBob) and Jannik Hastrup, David Silverman (The Simpsons) and Pierre Coffin (Despicable Me), have expressed how much they love the Festival’s unique and intimate atmosphere. Together, the ITFS, the Animation Production Day, and the first-class industry conference FMX have developed into an important platform for the financing and development of animated projects. It is testing the future of cartoon films and the interface between animation, computer games, architecture, contemporary art and real-time media. 

With more than 85,000 visitors each year, the ITFS is a great success with the audience. It has also developed to an essential event for professionals in the animation industry.

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  • Podiumsdisskusion Who killed Bambi, v.l. Tony Loeser, Andreas Platthaus, Daniel Kothenschulte, Julia Weber, Rolf Giesen und Ulrich Höcherl

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  • The festival offers excellent networking opportunities for professionals and decision makers in film, media, TV, video and cinema, but also transmedia and games; for producers and film makers as well as for lecturers and students from film and media universities. All of them have the chance to get the freshest news on the latest movies and developments in animation industry, to get to know studios and universities and to connect and socialize with other industry people. A wide range of receptions, parties and talks will offer much more opportunities to swap ideas.

  • Important industry prizes are awarded. The Animated Com Award honours great work in the categories advertising, spatial communication and technology. Additionally Daimler AG awards the special prize “Future needs Derivation – Mobility in a Digital World” and U. I. Lapp GmbH the „Lapp Connected Award“. The award show takes place as a glamorous gala at Mercedes-Benz Museum.The German Animation Screenplay Award, sponsored by Telepool GmbH, aims to promote outstanding German-language screenplays for animated film. The award show also features the Tricks for Kids-Award for the Best Children’s Animated Series and takes place in the New Castle in Stuttgart. Actress Anna Thalbach hosts the event which will be the prelude to the business platform Animation Production Day.

  • Studio Presentations feature masters and milestones in the field of animation: Pixar, Laika (USA, multiple Oscar-nominated, “The Boxtrolls”), Vivi Film (Belgium, “The Triplets of Belleville”, “The Secret of Kells”) and Sacre Bleu (France, awarded e.g. for “Tram”) are expected.

  • Exclusive workshops with both, national and international renowned animation film makers and authors, convey unique knowledge. With among others Josh Selig (New York), founder of Little Airplane Productions (“Wonder Pets”) and 13-times Emmy awardee, Birgit Weyhe (comic book prize of Berthold Leibinger Stiftung 2015), who talks about comic dramaturgy, as well as Studio 100 and the world of their animation hero “Vic the Viking”.

  • In our Game Zone 2015 numerous workshops and presentations in the areas of games, transmedia and digital content are going to take place under the slogan “Games for Everybody”. Especially the topic edutainment – education and games – will get a bigger platform including lectures and games.

  • Simultaneously with the Festival the top-class-symposium FMX – Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Transmedia (May 5 to 8, 2015) takes place. For further information go to: www.fmx.de

  • The business platform for the international animation industry, Animation Production Day (APD, May 7/8, 2015), was further developed. Germany’s only coproduction market specialized on animation projects invites production companies from all over the world to present their projects to potential financing partners in effective One-to-One-Meetings. Furthermore the new programme point “Producers Meet Producers” sets the focus on the producer’s side of animation projects: For the first time service companies, who are willing to invest in projects as co-financiers, have the chance to negotiate cooperations. For further information go to: www.animationproductionday.de

  • National and international film and art schools are going to introduce themselves and present outstanding work of their students, e.g. the National Film and Television School (Great Britain), the Universitat Politècnica de València and the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht. From Germany the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg, the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf and the Stuttgart Media University are expected.