TALENT Meet-up BW 2025 offers young professionals the opportunity to experience the Stuttgart Animated Week 2025 – FMX – Film & Media Exchange (May 6-9), the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (May 6-11), and the Animation Production Days Conference (May 6) – with a free Combi Ticket. This initiative supports participants in networking, provides personalized program recommendations, and creates an optimal framework for exchange – both among attendees and within the international industry. Additionally, participants will get to know regional support programs and key contacts.
Ahead of Stuttgart Animated Week, the Studi Stage, part of the Open Stage Games BW on March 12, 2025, in Stuttgart, offers a great opportunity for initial networking and exchanges. The official kickoff of the TALENT Meet-up BW 2025 program will take place on May 5, from 14:00 to 16:30 CET in Stuttgart, bringing participants together to start the week. To wrap up the eventful days, a Get-Together on May 9, from 12:30 to 15:00 CET provides a space for sharing experiences and reflections.
Specifically for talents and start-ups from Stuttgart, Wirtschaftsförderung der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart offers additional support: Through the FMX NEW_Comer program, they have the opportunity to secure a booth, a workshop slot, and a speaker badge at FMX 2025 (for more information, please get in touch with Hannah Schneider at hannah.schneider@stuttgart.de).
The TALENT Meet-up BW 2025 program is aimed at individuals who are at the beginning of their own startup journey, those in the midst of developing animation-based content – such as games, XR, VFX, and animation – or those from non-industry but related fields, such as students of (humanities) sciences, who want to connect with professionals from the animation, film, and games industries.
The 32nd Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) will take place from May 6 to 11, 2025. With focuses on artistic animated films and the promotion of young talent prizes totalling over 45,000 euros will be awarded across five competitions. Filmmakers worldwide are invited to submit their works starting September 1, 2024.
The submission deadline for the following short film competitions is November 15, 2024:
International Competition for animated short films
Student Competition for animated short films
Tricks for Kids – competition for animated short films and series for children
Trickstar Nature Award – competition for animated short films on nature and the environment
The submission deadlinefor the feature-length film competition AniMovie is January 15, 2025.
Film submissions are handled via the online submission platform Shortfilmdepot. Registration forms and regulations as well as more information about the festival, the competition categories, and the contact persons can be found on the ITFS website.
The STUTTGART ANIMATED WEEK leverages synergies with parallel events: At the same time as ITFS, the co-production market Animation Production Days (APD) and the FMX – Film and Media Exchange conference take place. This unique combination of festival, conference, and market draws up to 6,000 professional visitors to Stuttgart each year.
Traineeship in Communications (m/f/d), starting September 1, 2024, full-time: TikTok is not a means of transportation for you, Insta immediately makes you think in squares, YouTube is your channel and content is queen! Do you want to do more than “something with social media”, are you a strong communicator, think visually and know what’s important in communication? Then apply for a traineeship to strengthen the ITFS communications team! Job advertisement
Junior Project Manager in Sponsoring & Marketing (m/f/d), starting September 15, 2024, full-time: Are you convinced that really big festival highlights can be better realized with a strong partner network? Does the thought of many curious and enthusiastic faces make your heart beat faster? Your skills include strong communication and organizational skills? Are you not afraid to pick up the phone from time to time? Then apply now as a Junior Project Manager at ITFS! Job advertisement
We thank all participants and attendees for the great afternoon and the many wonderful conversations!
Photo: Louis NauchePhoto: Louis NauchePhoto: MFGPhoto: MFGPhoto: MFG
April 26, 2024
Animation Media Lounge April 2024
On April 24, 2024, we had our annual party, the Animation Media Lounge in the “Note”, to which we invited on the occasion of the STUTTGART ANIMATED WEEK 2024 (FMX, ITFS and APD 2024), musically accompanied by the Caligari Band. Thank you for coming – we hope you had a blast!
April 25, 2024
Our Creators @ FMX and ITFS on Friday, April 26, 2024!
Our CREATORS can be found at numerous talks, presentations, screenings, meetings and events at FMX and ITFS on Friday, April 26 – day 4 of the STUTTGART ANIMATED WEEK2024. Find out where and when!
10:30-19:30 ITFS Königsbau-Passagen GameZone „The Bear – A Story from the WORLD OF GRA“ (by ITFS/FMX/APD Trailer Team) Animationsinstitut Alumni (Mucks! Games) https://www.itfs.de/en/events/gamezone-2/
11:15 FMX Turm Aalen Starting and succeeding as creative producers in animation and VFX production Animationsinstitut / FABW alumni, curated by: Christian Müller, Animationsinstitut / FABW https://fmx.de/en/program/program-2024/detail/event/28832
20:00 Contain’t, Container City Kunstverein Wagenhalle, Nordbahnhofstr. 1 NIGHT OF SHAME by Studio Seufz Studio Seufz, ITFS, Animationsinstitut, AMCRS https://www.nightofshame.com/
10:30-19:30 ITFS Königsbau-Passagen GameZone „The Bear – A Story from the WORLD OF GRA“ (by ITFS/FMX/APD Trailer Team) Animationsinstitut Alumni (Mucks! Games) https://www.itfs.de/en/events/gamezone-2/
12:30 FMX Bertha-Benz-Saal Panel Discussion: How to pull it off? Jan Pinkava, Andreas Hykade, Animationsinstitut / FABW (Andreas Hykade also curator of the Track “Raw and Relevant”) https://fmx.de/en/program/program-2024/detail/event/28894
19:00 ITFS Haus der Katholischen Kirche, Königstr. 7 AniX Awards (with German Animation Screenplay Award) AMCRS German Animation Screenplay Award sponsored by the AMCRS https://www.itfs.de/en/events/anix-awards/
April 23, 2024
Our CREATORS @ FMX and ITFS on Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Day 2 of the STUTTGART ANIMATED WEEK 2024! Find out where to find our CREATORS at FMX and ITFS on Wednesday, April 24!
10:30-19:30 ITFS Königsbau-Passagen GameZone „The Bear – A Story from the WORLD OF GRA“ (by ITFS/FMX/APD Trailer Team) Animationsinstitut Alumni (Mucks! Games) https://www.itfs.de/en/events/gamezone-2/
17:00 FMX Raum Reutlingen, Chaos Suite Bridging the Gap: Pre-viz and post into the LED stage production era David Gaspar Anastacio, Accenture Song, Oliver Markowski, RISE | Visual Effects Studios https://fmx.de/en/program/program-2024/detail/event/30131
19:00 FMX Plaza in front of Haus der Wirtschaft Get-Together
21:30 Die Note, Berliner Platz 1 Animation Lounge AMCRS
April 22, 2024
Our Creators @ FMX and ITFS on Tuesday, April 23, 2024!
Let’s get started with STUTTGART ANIMATED WEEK2024, during which animation, VFX and games fans and professionals from all over the world will come together in Stuttgart to experience and exchange the latest trends, most impressive projects and most exciting stories: FMX – Film & Media Exchange (April 23-26, 2024), the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (April 23-28, 2024) and the Animation Production Days (April 23-25, 2024) will take place! We could hardly wait!
10:00-18:00 FMX, Foyer Bertha Benz Immersive XR Demos Track “EU XR” curated by Volker Helzle, Animationsinstitut / FABW EMIL: FABW – Fate of the Minotaur: Alexander Kreische, Andreas Dahn, Eduard Schäfer, Justus Blönnigen, Leszek Plichta, Lisa Forelli, Simon Spielmann, Volker Helzle, Yvonne Krühler Pixelcloud – Climate Change VR: Christoph Rasulis, Elija Schneider, Jonas Kirchner MAX-R: FABW – VPET (Digital Locations) & AnimHost: Alexandru Tufis-Schwartz, Francesco Andreussi, Jonas Trottnow, Simon Haag, Simon Spielmann, Volker Helzle https://fmx.de/en/program/program-2024/detail/event/29798
14:30 FMX Meidinger-Saal Immersive Artwork: Pushing the boundaries of location based entertainment Track “Games & Beyond” curated by Anna Brinkschulte, Animationsinstitut / FABW https://fmx.de/en/program/program-2024/detail/event/28782
15:45 FMX Meidinger-Saal, VOD Creating The Blackwall VFX for Cyberpunk 2077 : Phantom Liberty Track “Games & Beyond” curated by Anna Brinkschulte, Animationsinstitut / FABW https://fmx.de/en/program/program-2024/detail/event/28881
16:00-19:30 ITFS Königsbau-Passagen GameZone „The Bear – A Story from the WORLD OF GRA“ (by ITFS/FMX/APD Trailer Team) Animationsinstitut Alumni (Mucks! Games) https://www.itfs.de/en/events/gamezone/
17:00 FMX Meidinger-Saal, VOD THE BEAR – Making Meaningful Mobile Games and Designing for Calmness Animationsinstitut Alumni Clara Deitmar, Julius Dorsel (Mucks! Games, FMX/ITFS/APD 2024 trailer team) Track “Games & Beyond” curated by Anna Brinkschulte, Animationsinstitut / FABW https://fmx.de/en/program/program-2024/detail/event/28880
17:00 LAVAlabs, Mittelstraße 9/1, 70180 Stuttgart BBQ Lavalabs All AMCRS members are cordially invited!
19:00 FMX Plaza in front of Haus der Wirtschaft Get-Together
April 2, 2024
Night of Shame on April 26, 2024!
Night of Shame
Night of Shame is the curated film show that celebrates filmmakers’ worst! From charmingly incompetent to all out shameful – established directors excavate their questionable films and submit them to the fascinated gaze of a live audience. An introduction, a screening and an on-stage interview with our host Michael Bohnenstingl. Slightly uncomfortable or outrageously funny! Finally our filmmaker is rewarded by the redemptive applause of a loving crowd. Night of Shame makes you feel humbled, elated, and a bit closer to each other. Because ultimately: “We’re all the same in our shame.”