Our CREATORS from Merz Akademie warmly invite you to their Sommerfest on Saturday, July 12, 2025, from 14:00 to 22:00 CET! Join them in celebrating their graduates and the end of the semester on the Merz Akademie campus. Look forward to a summer day in the park with exhibitions, performances, delicious food, and music. Featuring the graduation exhibition of the Summer Semester 2025 graduates and an extensive showcase of works including films, photographs, books, installations, animations, and performances.
Location: Merz Akademie, Hochschule für Gestaltung, Kunst und Medien, Stuttgart Teckstraße 58, 70190 Stuttgart
Design: Prof. Joost Bottema
July 4, 2025
Pre Fixe in July – with Dr. Andreas Bareiß
Together with the Film- und Medienfestival gGmbH (organizer of Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film) and the AMCRS, MFG organizes the Pre Fixe as a prelude to the monthly network meeting of the film industry (Jour Fixe). Speakers from the animation and film scene present practical examples of current projects and provide insights into their work.
The next Pre Fixe will take place on Monday, July 14, 2025, 18:00 CET. Guest: Dr. Andreas Bareiß has been Director of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg since May 1. In the Pre Fixe, he will share his perspective on the Filmakademie, where he identifies fields of action, and what strategy he is pursuing to make the Filmakademie and its students fit for the future in a rapidly changing media industry.
The event will take place at the Kulturzentrum Merlin, Augustenstraße 72, 70178 Stuttgart. Admission is free.
Dr. Andreas Bareiß, (c) FABW / Anja Fellerhoff
All participants are cordially invited to attend the subsequent MFG Jour Fixe from 19:00 CET. The Jour Fixe offers a unique opportunity for exchange and networking with colleagues from the MFG Film Funding Unit.
Two animated projects involving AMCRS members will celebrate their world premieres this coming weekend at the 42. Filmfest München (June 27 to July 6, 2025) – and both are in the running for an award.
“TAFITI – ACROSS THE DESERT” and “PUMUCKL’S NEW ADVENTURES” are screening in the “CineKindl” competition and have been nominated for Best Film in this children’s and youth film section.
The animated children’s film “TAFITI – ACROSS THE DESERT” (directed by Nina Wels) was created with the participation of Red Parrot Studios. World sales are handled by Sola Media. The premiere will take place on Saturday, June 28. All information and credits
The animation for the goblin Pumuckl in the TV series “PUMUCKL’S NEW ADVENTURES” (directed by Marcus H. Rosenmüller) – with selected episodes from season 2 nominated – was created by Studio Soi. The premiere is scheduled for Sunday, June 29. All information and credits
The Filmfest München is the second-largest film festival in Germany, after the Berlinale.
The game “Lucky Tower Ultimate” by Studio Seufz has been nominated for a GDD Indie Award 2025 – in not just one, but two categories: Best Game and Best Game Mechanics (game design).
Lucky Tower Ultimate is a comedic, roguelike adventure game following the trials and tribulations of a narcissistic knight… as he repeatedly tries to escape the dangerous tower he’s been trapped in. The levels and layout of the tower are procedurally generated, so no two runs of Lucky Tower Ultimate will ever be the same. There are many different traps, weapons, monsters, and rooms to experience.
Lucky Tower Ultimate is the third game in the Lucky Tower series and available on Steam. The publisher of the game is AMC Games, and it was supported, among others, by MFG Baden-Württemberg.
The GDD Indie Awards, with a total prize money of €10,000, will be presented on July 9, 2025, during the GermanDevDays (GDD) game developer conference, taking place on July 9 and 10, 2025 in Frankfurt. Fingers crossed!
Director Elena Walf and Studio Film Bilder are celebrating a successful start to the festival tour of their series LENA’S FARM. After already winning awards in recent days at the Italian festivals Cartoons on the Bay and Periferie Animate, as well as at the festival in Zlín, Czech Republic, the crowning moment came in France: on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at the Festival d’Animation Annecy, Elena Walf was honored on the main stage with the Jury Award for a TV Series.
The series consists of 26 episodes, each 5 minutes and 40 seconds long, which also work as stand-alone short films. It was produced by Studio Film Bilder in co-production with ZDF and Minya Film from Zagreb. Financing was made possible by MFG Baden-Württemberg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, the CroatianAudiovisual Centre, and the Creative Europe MEDIA program. Global distribution is handled by Meta Media, London.
Congratulations to Elena Walf, Studio Film Bilder and everyone else involved!
What a wonderful afternoon it was! Our heartfelt thanks go to everyone involved and present for the great organization and all the amazing conversations!
Impressions Annecy 2025, German Reception, all photos: Louis Nauche
June 6, 2025
GAMESTATE Festival BW 2025
Photo: MFG
The GAMESTATE Festival BW on July 11, 2025 brings together professional developers, students, and career changers from Baden-Württemberg to strengthen statewide exchange within the games industry and explore future development opportunities. A diverse program of talks and roundtables, concluding with a party, offers numerous opportunities for in-depth exchange and networking.
The event is free of charge. Registration is required by July 4.
Stuttgart is calling for creative submissions! The Art Directors Club für Deutschland (ADC) e.V. is launching a design competition on behalf of the City of Stuttgart for a creative Stuttgart T-shirt. The contest runs under the theme “42 x 30 – Stuttgart macht sich bereit für die Zukunft(Stuttgart Gets Ready for the Future)” and is aimed at young creatives, students, agency trainees, and designers with fresh ideas. Professionals are also welcome to participate.
The goal is to create a T-shirt design that captures the spirit of the city – bold, modern, and forward-looking. Prizes totaling € 1,500 will be awarded, and the winners will be honored at the ADC Design Conference on October 20, 2025 in Stuttgart. Submission deadline: June 30, 2025
Further information and submission details can be found hereand here.
May 25, 2025
Annecy 2025
From June 8 to 14, 2025, this year’s Annecy Festival will take place. As part of the festival, the MIFA animation film market will be held from June 10 to 13. Numerous projects by filmmakers from our network will be featured.
In the competition category “TV Films,” “Lena’s Farm” is represented with the episode “Volles Nest” by Elena Walf, produced by Thomas Meyer-Hermann (Studio Film Bilder). More info
The Animationsinstitut of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg is also represented: in the “Graduation Films” category, “Detlev” by Ferdinand Ehrhardt (director and producer) and Saskia Stirn (producer), with distribution by Fabian Driehorst, will be screened. More info Selected for the “VR Works” category is “lichtung” by Aria Wolf and Janina Zlotos (directors), produced by Cyril Fischer and Christoph Mohr. More info
The animated feature film “Stitch Head” by screenwriter and director Steve Hudson will be shown in the “Annecy Presents” section and will celebrate its world premiere! At ITFS 2020, the screenplay received the AMCRS-sponsored award for Best German-language Screenplay for an Animated Feature Film. The film was supported by MFG and involved the studios LAVAlabs Moving Images and PIXOMONDO in its production. More info | News article by MFG
The talent panel “Shape Your Future: Moving European Animation Forward” will present the innovation network PANEURAMA, with Christian Müller from the Animationinstitut joining the discussion. More info
‘Is AI intelligent?’ is the question posed by internationally renowned AI researcher Bernhard Schölkopf in his keynote at the first edition of the Innovationslabor Zukunft (Innovation Lab Future). From May 28 to June 1, 2025, Schauspiel Stuttgart will transform the Kammertheater into a theatrical AI laboratory with 30 events.
Can an AI direct a play? Can AI help us overcome death? How does a human move in the metaverse? Human and machine – who is programming whom? Is AI emotional? With the help of experts such as Ranga Yogeshwar, Oscar winner Jan Pinkava (head of Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg’s Animationsinstitut), theatrical performance projects (by Wilke Weermann, Florian Etti, Alessa Bollack, and Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart), workshops by La Fura dels Baus, and performances by Rimini Protokoll, the festival explores complex questions about the future of artificial intelligence and society.
With the Innovationslabor Zukunft, Schauspiel Stuttgart creates a space for exciting encounters, diverse presentations, discussion formats, and keynotes featuring experts from science, business, the arts, and philosophy. Encounters with a humanoid robot, Kenza Ait Si Abbou, Ars Electronica Director Veronica Liebl, ZKM Director Alistair Hudson, film producer Nico Hofmann, Prof. Dr. Judith Simon (member of the Deutscher Ethikrat), Minister Petra Olschowski, producer and pianist Roberto Di Gioia, and many more. SWR Kultur will produce four live broadcasts/podcasts – including from the Kammertheater.
AI becomes tangible and experiential: AI live on stage, AI-driven live music production, AI in film, and actors performing live in the Metaverse.
In cooperation with SWR Kultur, Hochschule der Medien, Media Solution Center Baden-Württemberg, HLRS, ZKM Karlsruhe, EIT Culture and Creativity, ICE Innovation by Creative Economy, Akademie für Darstellende Kunst Baden-Württemberg
