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The Winners of the AniX Awards at ITFS 2025!

The first award winners of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) 2025 have been chosen: In a joint awards ceremony – the AniX Awards – the German Animation Screenplay Award and the Trickstar Business Award were presented on the evening of May 8, 2025 at the Festival Centre in the Haus der Katholischen Kirche.

Award winners and nominees, juries, and sponsors AniX Award ITFS 2025, Photo: Reiner Pfisterer

The prize for the best German screenplay for an animated feature film in the amount of € 2,500 sponsored by the Animation Media Creators Region Stuttgart (AMCRS), goes to “Fräulein Dezember und die Mondschein-Bande“ (“Miss December and the Moon Clan”) by Lisa Fechner (Producer: Peter Keydel, Production: Mistral Filmstudio GmbH)

From the jury statement: Miss December is a loving, exciting, and funny Mary Poppins story, paired with magic and scary moments. Based on an Italian children’s book by Antonia Murgo, Lisa Fechner succeeds in crafting the dialogues in a fresh yet profound way. The plot is exciting, humorous, quirky, and has the necessary nostalgic feel, reminiscent of Charles Dickens’ stories and quirky families à la Wednesday and Hotel Transylvania.

The Award for the Screenplay with the Greatest International Market Potential is endowed with €2,500, sponsored by SOLA MEDIA – and the winner is Nessie Junior (Authors: Matthias Drescher, Jens Opatz, Producer: Matthias Drescher, Production: FFL – Film und Fernsehlabor Ludwigsburg GmbH & Co. KG)

From the jury statement: The story of the young sea monster Fin, who teams up with 13-year-old Kellina to uncover long-buried secrets about his origins, impresses with emotional depth, narrative strength, and a compelling sense of storytelling. […] Nessie Junior addresses universal themes such as friendship, identity, family, and the search for belonging – topics that resonate across cultures and are relevant to audiences worldwide. The legendary figure of Nessie is internationally recognized and sparks curiosity and empathy across generations, especially among family viewers. […] With Nessie Junior, Jens Opatz and Matthias Drescher have crafted a heartfelt, original, and internationally accessible story with the potential to become a beloved favorite among audiences worldwide.

The jury consisted of Solveig Langeland (Founder and Managing Director, Sola Media GmbH, Stuttgart), Jørn Precht (Author, Screenwriter, Professor for Storytelling, Hochschule der Medien, Stuttgart), Ron Segal (Author, Screenwriter, Berlin), Holger Weiss (CEO & Founder, Executive Producer, M.A.R.K. 13 Group, Stuttgart) und Silke Wilfinger (Founder & Owner, SILKWAYFILMS, Munich).

Winners Jens Opatz, Matthias Drescher
Matthias Drescher, Annegret Richter (ITFS), Solveig Langeland (Sola Media), Jens Opatz
Stefanie Larson (AMCRS), Winner Peter Keydel
Matthias Drescher, Jens Opatz, Solveig Langeland (Sola Media), Silke Wilfinger (Silkway Films), Peter Keydel, Holger Weiss (M.A.R.K. 13), Jørn Precht (Hochschule der Medien), Ron Segal

The Trickstar Business Award, the prize for the best innovative and forward-looking business model in the animation sector in the amount of € 7,500 sponsored by Verband Region Stuttgart, goes to SYNK by ThePack (CEO: Jan Hameeuw) – a real-time content generator and workflow management system that creates synergies and enables a huge increase in the efficiency of 3-D productions.

Congratulations to all the award winners!

ITFS 2025: Nominations German Animation Screenplay Award and Animated Games Award Germany

ITFS Award Statue, Photo: ITFS, Reiner Pfisterer

The Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (May 6-11, 2025) not only awards animated films, but also honors screenplays, projects & business ideas, and German video games.

The German Animation Screenplay Award recognises outstanding screenplays for feature-length animated films. The Award for the Best Screenplay for a Feature-Length Animated Film comes with €2,500, sponsored by the Animation Media Creators Region Stuttgart (AMCRS). The Award for the Screenplay with the Greatest International Market Potential is endowed with €2,500, sponsored by our CREATORS from SOLA MEDIA.

The nominees are:

  • Die Schule der Schurken / The School of Villains (Author: John Chambers)
  • Fräulein Dezember und die Mondscheinbande (Author: Lisa Fechner, Producer: Peter Keydel, Production: Mistral Filmstudio GmbH)
  • Nessie Junior (Authors: Matthias Drescher, Jens Opatz, Producer: Matthias Drescher, Production: FFL – Film und Fernsehlabor Ludwigsburg GmbH & Co. KG)
  • Treasure Island (Authors: Florens Huhn, Sophia Bierend, Producer: Frank Geiger, Production: Little Dream Entertainment GmbH)

The awards will be presented as part of the Anix Awards on Thursday, May 8, 2025, at 19:00 CET. The Trickstar Business Award will also be presented during the ceremony. Earlier that day, at 13:00 CET, Jørn Precht (Stuttgart Media University) will speak with the nominees for the German Animation Screenplay Award about storytelling and the development of their nominated scripts (To the event).

The Animated Games Award Germany is endowed with €5,000 and is sponsored by MFG Baden-Württemberg. It targets developers of high-quality video games who have their primary or secondary residence in Germany.

The nominees are:

  • Harold Halibut (Slow Bros.)
  • Duck Detective: The Secret Salami (Happy Broccoli Games)
  • MINI MINI GOLF GOLF (Three More Years Studio)
  • Songs of Silence (Chimera Entertainment)
  • PRIM (Application Systems Heidelberg)

More about the nominated games. The Animated Games Award will be presented during the Award Ceremony on Saturday evening, May 10, 2025. Festival visitors can try out the five nominated games in the GameZone, located at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.

Source and more information

Fingers crossed for all the nominees!

Four Projects from Baden-Württemberg at Cartoon Movie 2025!

Cartoon Movie is an annual pitching and co-production forum aimed at strengthening the production and distribution of animated feature films in Europe. This year, it took place from March 4 to 6 in Bordeaux. A total of 55 new projects from 16 countries were presented – and of the six projects from Germany, four came from Baden-Württemberg alone! Members of the AMCRS are also involved!

“Condenaditos”, pitched by Matisse Gonzales Jordán (director and author, a graduate of Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg’s Animationsinstitut) and Stefan Michel (producer Studio Seufz). They had already presented the project at Cartoon Movie 2023. More about the project

“Nessie Junior“ is produced by FFL Film- und Fernseh-Labor Ludwigsburg and Uli Schwarz. Presenting on-site at Cartoon Movie was Matthias Drescher (producer, scriptwriter FFL). More about the project

“Cocobanana and the Dinosaur Hunt“ is the name of the project co-produced by SERU Animation with Sebastian Runschke. More about the project

“Valenti­no“ is produced by the Ludwigsburg-based company Zooper Film with Lilian Klages. More about the project

Cocobanana and the Dinosaur Hunt
Nessie Junior
Valentino
Condenaditos: Matisse Gonzales Jordán, Nidia Santiago (Co-Producer Ikki Films), Stefan Michel (Studio Seufz)

MORIA SIX wins two prizes at DOK Leipzig 2024

The MFG-funded MORIA SIX by Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg graduate Jennifer Mallmann received two awards at the International Festival for Documentary and Animated Film DOK Leipzig (October 28 to November 3, 2024): the DEFA Förderpreis, endowed with 4,000 euros, and the Filmpreis Leipziger Ring der Stiftung Friedliche Revolution, endowed with 2,500 euros. MORIA SIX was also one of the “DOK Busters 2024”.

Producer Matthias Drescher (Film- und Fernsehlabor Ludwigsburg), Sina Diehl (Cinematography), Svenja Vanhoefer, Line Producerin (Student Producer Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg), Jennifer Mallmann (Director/Author), Carl Bergengruen (Managing Director MFG). | Photo: Film- und Fernsehlabor Ludwigsburg

In her graduation film MORIA SIX, which celebrated its world premiere in Leipzig with two sold-out screenings, director Jennifer Mallmann takes a differentiated look at the Moria refugee camp, where a devastating fire broke out in September 2020. In calm, precise images, the film addresses the mechanisms of the European policy of isolation, which treats people like criminals and locks them up in futuristic high-security camps.

MORIA SIX is a production of Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and our CREATORS from Film- und Fernsehlabor Ludwigsburg, produced by Matthias Drescher (Film- und Fernsehlabor Ludwigsburg).

Sources and further details:
MFG Baden-Württemberg
DOK Leipzig
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg

Nominations for the First Steps Awards 2024 announced

First Steps Award 2023 Sara Fazilat © Clemens Porikys

The First Steps Awards is the most important German prize for young filmmakers. This year, the expert jury has made its choice from over 200 entries and announced the nominees. The winners will be announced on Monday, September 30 at the Theater des Westens in Berlin and broadcast as a livestream in the ARD Mediathek from 19:30 CET. The nominations alone are associated with a prize of 1,000 euros.

Among the nominees is MORIA SIX by Jennifer Mallmann, produced by our CREATORS from FFL Film- und Fernseh-Labor Ludwigsburg and funded by MFG, was nominated in the “Documentary” category. The film takes a critical look at the new European refugee policy, using the example of the controversial conviction of six refugees who were held responsible for the devastating fire in the Moria camp on Lesbos in September 2020.

Three projects created at the Animationinstitut of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg can also hope to win a First Steps Award. The animated film DODO by Yi Luo has been nominated in the “Short Film” category. DODO tells the poetic story of Dodo and her father, a big blue bird. One day he flies away and never comes back. Since then, Dodo has stopped growing. The film was awarded the Lotte Reiniger Prize by the MFG as the best entry in the animated short film competition at the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film in April. More about DODO

PEAR GARDEN (director: Shadab Shayegan) is nominated in the “Short Steps” category and uses a purist drawing technique to sensitively tell the story of a grandmother who has lost her breasts through a mastectomy and the associated fears of her grandchild. More about PEAR GARDEN

SCRUBBY (director: Paul Vollet) is also nominated in the “Short Steps” category. The titular creature wants to live in its mother’s thick fur forever. But in his search for security, Scrubby realizes that even strong people sometimes lose their strength and need someone to lean on. More about SCRUBBY

We congratulate everyone involved and keep our fingers crossed!

Moria Six, (c) Sina Diehl
Dodo, image: FABW
Scrubby, Image: FABW
PEAR GARDEN, Image: FABW

Sources: MFG News, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Press Release

Complete List of First-Steps Awards Nominees

FFL nominated for the CINEURO Award 2024!

At the traditional “Meet & Greet” of the CinEuro partners at the 77th International Film Festival in Cannes, it was announced which film projects have been nominated for the CinEuro Award. Among them are our CREATORS from FFL Film- und Fernsehlabor in Ludwigsburg, who are hoping to win the award for their planned feature film project “Schweizer Kühe“!

The nominees for the CinEuro Award 2024: 2. from the left Matthias Drescher, FFL (Photo: CinEuro, Alban Pinchon)

About the project:
SCHWEIZER KÜHE | LES VACHES SUISSES
Production: FFL Film- und Fernseh-Labor (DE), Co-Production: Tellfilm (CH), Director: Matthias Dinter / Screenplay: Ulrike Maria Hund & Matthias Dinter
Southern Germany 1945: When the small village of Hemmingen is occupied by French troops, 10-year-old Paul devises an adventurous plan to save the village’s cows from being confiscated by the Muslim soldiers of African descent. In the process, he befriends the officer Aziz – who, however, falls in love with Paul’s mother Martha…

The CinEuro Award is a cross-border initiative that was launched last year by various CinEuro partners. In addition to MFG Filmförderung, the initiators are the northern French Région Grand Est, Film Fund Luxembourg, Saarland Medien GmbH, the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry for Family Affairs, Women, Culture and Integration, Wallimage, screen.brussels, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, the Ministry of the German-speaking Community of Belgium and, for the first time, the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg. The aim is to support the creation of projects that highlight the links between several partner regions through specific themes, characters or places.

The finalists selected from the submissions, i.e. the respective screenwriters, producers and directors, will present their projects to the jury and other accredited participants on July 3 at the international co-production meeting Forum Alentours in Strasbourg (July 2 to 4). On the same day, the international jury of experts will select the winners, whose names will be announced at the subsequent reception at ARTE.

We keep our fingers crossed for all nominees!

Source, further information and all nominees: MFG Baden-Württemberg

cineuro.eu