APD Conference

Animation Production Days (APD) is a business platform for newly developed animation projects. It is a joint venture of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) and the FMX – Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Immersive Media. In addition to the APD Co-Production and Financing Market, where producers present their projects to potential cooperation partners in pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings, the APD conference is also an important part of the programme.

The APD conference is also open to ITFS accredited professionals with an ONLINE PRO Ticket. The conference will be held in English.

APD Conference #1:
ENABLE! Case Studies and Market Trends
6 May 2021, 15:00 – 16:30 pm (CEST)

The first section of the APD conference, entitled “Enable! Case Studies and Market Trends”, will be hosted by APD curator Prof Lilian Klages and streamed from 3.00 pm to 4.30 pm (CEST) on Thursday, May 6th from the FMX studio in Ludwigsburg.

The first case study will explore the future of transmedia storytelling as a team of students from the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg present their cyberpunk project “NEOSHIN” which combines a narrative series with music and new media to deliver a coherent transmedia experience.
In the second case study, “Ainbo – Spirit of the Amazon”, Edward Noeltner from the Cinema Management Group will look at the very exciting and innovative animation market in Latin America and use the example of the Peruvian-Dutch coproduction of “Ainbo” to reveal possibilities for European-Latin American cooperation.

APD Conference #2:
Content Briefing Session
7 May 2021, 11:30 am – 13:00 pm (CEST)

The conference’s second section, the Content Briefing Session, will be streamed from 11.30 am to 1.00 pm (CEST) on Friday, May 7th from the studio of the International Festival of Animated Film in Stuttgart. APD curator Christophe Erbès will interview four representatives from major broadcasters and streaming platforms about their current animation programming needs: Janine Weigold, Manager of Kids & Family Original Content at Netflix; Patricia Hidalgo, Director of Children’s & Education at the BBC; Orion Ross, Vice President of Content Animation & Digital at The Walt Disney Company – EMEA; and Nicole Keeb, Head of International Coproductions and Acquisitions Children’s and Youth at ZDF. A subsequent joint panel discussion will look at which animation content is currently in demand and will also explore whether and in what way the pandemic has had an impact on programming strategies and what this means for the animation industry.

APD Conference Live-Stream: