Last week, the winners of the VES Awards 2025 were announced! The Visual Effects Society’s prestigious annual celebration recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation worldwide and the VFX supervisors, VFX producers and hands-on artists who bring this work to life.
Among the winners are also AMCRS members. The award in the category OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE went to “The Penguin; After Hours“. The winning team includes, among others, Karen Cheng from PIXOMONDO as well as Jonas Stuckenbrock from Accenture Song VFX, who is also a graduate of the Merz Akademie. We congratulate them and are thrilled for all the winners!
Filmschau Baden-Württemberg (December 4 to 8, 2024)
The Filmschau Baden-Württemberg, the state film festival in Stuttgart, takes place annually over five days at the beginning of December in Stuttgart’s Innenstadtkinos – this year it celebrates its 30th anniversary from December 4 to 8. Around 120 films are presented by professionals from the industry and up-and-coming filmmakers from Baden-Württemberg’s film schools. Feature films, short films, animated films, documentaries and commercials will be shown, including many premieres.
It is organized by the Filmbüro Baden-Württemberg e.V.. In the competition for the Baden-Württembergischer Filmpreis, the best productions are awarded by five three-member expert juries in the categories Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Animated Film and Best Commercial Film. Prizes with a total value of up to 10,000 euros are awarded.
Members of the AMCRS are also strongly represented in the program, including numerous projects by alumni and students of Baden-Württemberg’s film and media academies and universities.
Animationsinstitut of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg: CERVUS ROSTRATUS (Director: Tobias Eckerlin), CONTRADICTION OF EMPTINESS (Director: Irina Rubina), DEAD END (Director: Fabienne Prieß, Levin Tamoj), DETLEV (Director: Ferdinand Ehrhardt), PEAR GARDEN (Director: Shadab Shayegan), KRONOS (Director: Lasse Falk, Haiyang Liu), IN A TIME WARP (Director: Anh Tú Nguyen), THE DEEP ABOVE – FIRST HUNT (Director: Niklas Wolff), KAULQUAPPE (Director: Julia Skala), MIND THE GAP (Director: Gwenola Heck), TURMSPRINGER (Director: Oscar Bittner) …
Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart: OUT THERE (Director: Ben Marquardt), AUSGELIEFERT (Director: Mauriz Thabo Röckle), FROGGING HELL (Director: Louis Reichardt), KINNHAKENHANK (Director: Sebastian Greim) (all HdM films)
Studio FILM BILDER: ANIMANIMUSICAL (Director: Julia Ocker), FRITZI UND SOPHIE – GRENZENLOSE FREUNDSCHAFT; EPISODE 4: BEINAHE VERHAFTET (Director: Ralf Kukula, Matthias Buhn, Thomas Meyer‐Hermann)
LAVAlabs (VFX): CRANKO (Director: Prof. Dr. Joachim A. Lang)
In the supporting program, the Schnupperkino awaits the youngest moviegoers with a short film reel featuring ANIMANIMALS, MEIN TIER AUF DER SCHMUSEDECKE and TOM UND DAS ERDBEERMARMELADEBROT MIT HONIG (all Studio FILM BILDER).
The new category “Best Visual Effects (VFX)” focuses on the area of the film industry in the southwest, which has achieved a leading position creatively and economically in Germany and throughout Europe. The nominees: CRANKO – Rolf Muetze (VFX Supervisor), Juri Stanossek (Associate VFX Supervisor) and Alexandra Stautmeister (VFX Producer) (LAVAlabs), AVATAR – THE LAST AIRBENDER – Emanuel Fuchs (VFX Supervisor), Gus Martinez (VFX supervisor) and Amelie Dillig (VFX producer) (Accenture Song VFX), BLUE BEETLE – RISE FX, GHOSTED – RISE FX
