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Filmschau Baden-Württemberg (December 3 to 7, 2025)

The 31. Filmschau Baden-Württemberg will take place from December 3 to 7, 2025, in Stuttgart’s Innenstadtkinos, letting the film region of Baden-Württemberg shine. For five days, 130 current films from the southwest, glamorous premieres, and exciting guests await visitors. The Filmschau Baden-Württemberg, the state film festival in Stuttgart, was launched in 1994 on the initiative of the state of Baden-Württemberg and is organized by the Filmbüro Baden-Württemberg e.V. It was held for the first time in November 1995 as an independent event and attracts more than 6,000 visitors each year.

In the competition for the Baden-Württembergischer Filmpreis, the best productions are selected by expert juries in the categories Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Animated Film, and Best Commercial, Best VFX Studio, and Best VFX Students.

The program also features a strong presence of AMCRS members, including numerous projects by alumni and students from Baden-Württemberg’s film and media schools.

Animationsinstitut of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg: LINIE 12 (Director: Sarah Schulz), Germany Premiere; SURVIVOR (Director: Leszek Plichta), World Premiere; THE AMAZING KITSUVERSE (Director: Leo Neumann), World Premiere; THE SKY WAS CANDY (Director: Anh Tú Nguyen), Baden-Württemberg Premiere; EVER ENDING SUMMER (Director: Nikki Girod, Sylvia Jorde), World Premiere; GAÏA (Director: Gwenola Heck), World Premiere; THE UNDYING PAIN OF EXISTENCE (Director: Oscar Jacobson), Baden-Württemberg Premiere; SPARK (VFX; Director: Zoi Naum); IF I COULD FLY (VFX; Marco Henn, Alex Kühn (Director), Jan David Gunther & David Gesslbauer); STIGMA (VFX; Aaron Eisel, Sören Schmidt-Clausen (Lead VFX Artists); DRECK (VFX; Konstantin Meidenbauer, Anna Mors, Melissa Öztürk)

Hochschule der Medien: UNGENIESSBAR (Directors: a team of nine students), World Premiere; Habt ihr Den geseh (VFX; David Schubert (VFX Supervisor), Katrin Wohnhas (Compositing Supervisor), Lia Bauer (CG Supervisor); HIRAETH (VFX: Jan Schubert (VFX Supervisor), Marvin Kampa (CG Supervisor), Alina Wahl (Compositing Supervisor)

Merz Akademie: OBSCURA (Director: Luna Wagner Rodriguez), World Premiere; OBLATIO (Director: Felix Remmen), World Premiere; MYKOLAIV, MARCEL, MY MOM AND I (Director: Ulana Drashchenko); IRON LOVE (Director: Ruta Vasiliauskaite), Weltpremiere; RITMICA (Director: Ekaterina Gradoboeva), World Premiere; SCHWERTER UND GÖFFEL – TRANSMASKULINE EUPHORIE (Director: Florentine Fritz)

Hochschule Offenburg: RESET (Director: Marius Mrohs, Emilie Bein)

The M.A.R.K. 13-Group: THE LIGHT OF AISHA (Director: Shadi Adib), Germany Premiere

Studio FILM BILDER: 3 KAPITÄNE (Director: Julia Ocker), World Premiere; VOLLES NEST (Director: Elena Walf); TOMS GEBURTSTAGSKINO (Director: Andreas Hykade); DR. DR. THEMEFART (Director: Andreas Hykade); THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT (Director: Christoph Horch), Baden-Württemberg Premiere; PASTA! (Director: Gottfried Mentor)

Accenture Song Content Germany: THE PENGUIN (VFX; Emanuel Fuchs (VFX Supervisor), Peter Lames (VFX Supervisor), Amelie Dillig (VFX Producer)); DUNE: PROPHECY (VFX; David Anastacio (VFX Supervisor), Peter Lames (VFX Supervisor), Apollonia Hartmann (VFX Producer); LEBEN – DER FILM (VFX; Adam Wesierski (VFX Supervisor, VFX Producer), Jan Burda (VFX Supervisor, VFX Producer)

Pixomondo /  LAVAlabs: WOODWALKERS (VFX; Max Riess (VFX Supervisor Pixomondo), Martin Jurado (VFX Supervisor LAVAlabs), Sven Martin (VFX-Supervisor Pixomondo))

LAVAlabs: THE DEAD OF WINTER (VFX; Juri Stanossek (VFX Supervisor), Alexandra Stautmeister (VFX Producer)

Sources: Press Release Filmschau BW | Merz Akademie

Virtuelle Welten & XR EXPO 2025

Baden-Württemberg is the first federal state in Germany to organize the event “Virtuelle Welten – Chancen im Metaverse erleben” (“Virtual Worlds – Exploring Opportunities in the Metaverse“), consisting of both a congress and a trade fair. The Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism of Baden-Württemberg is joining forces with the Virtual Dimension Center Fellbach (VDC) and partnering with XR EXPO to bring together expertise from pioneering companies in the Metaverse sector – including industry, the creative economy, research, and gaming – along with leading research institutes and developers. The two-day event, taking place on May 8 and 9, 2025, aims to showcase the diverse facets and existing possibilities of the Metaverse through demonstrators, while also offering fresh impulses for future developments.

The events Virtual Worlds and XR EXPO will be jointly organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the VDC on May 8, 2025, and will take place at the Porsche Arena and the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart. Admission and exhibitor costs are free of charge. The target audience includes professionals and executives from industry, crafts, and services, startups, students, pupils, employees of state administrations and other federal states, as well as anyone eager not to miss out on the virtual age. The XR EXPO congress on May 9, 2025, will be exclusively organized by the VDC and held at the Maritim Hotel in Stuttgart (ticket costs for this day are 250 euros).

On behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, MFG Baden-Württemberg is organizing the THE CREATIVE LÄND exhibition area (May 8, starting at 13:30 CET in the Porsche Arena), featuring live demos, an open stage, and interactive experience labs. Companies from the fields of games, animation, VFX, and UX will showcase their creative XR applications, offering insights into the opportunities and potential of Metaverse technologies. The program will be hosted by Anna Katharina Brinkschulte, Head of Interactive Media at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg’s Animationsinstitut (read her guest article “Neue Perspektiven für die Kreativwirtschaft im Metaverse“.)

Additional AMCRS members will also be participating in THE CREATIVE LÄND exhibition area: Pixelcloud will take part in the “Pitch & Connect: Exhibitors ‘Games BW & Interactive Media” session at 14:15 CET. Halbautomaten will join the “Pitch & Connect: Exhibitors ‘Cross Innovation” session at 16:45 CET. Also on May 8, at 15:00 CET, the “Hands-on Workshop: Rapid Prototyping von Virtuellen Erlebnis-Welten mit Hilfe von KI-Tools und VR-Brillen” will take place, led by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Scheible, Professor of Interaction Design at Hochschule der Medien, in the CodeLab room at the Porsche Arena, At 15:30 CET, Maximilian Schmierer from b.ReX will present in the Creative Länd Experience Labs on the topic: “Das digitale Ich im Metaverse – Avatare als neue Kommunikationsform“ in the PixelRoom of the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle.

See the complete program: https://event.cyberlaend.eu/programm

More information: https://xrexpo.tech/cyberlaend-en

Heiko Burkardsmaier receives the Baden-Württemberg Honorary Film Award 2024

Press Release Filmbüro Baden-Württemberg, October 30, 2024

Heiko Burkardsmaier, VFX Executive Producer and Head of Business/Legal Affairs at Accenture Song VFX in Stuttgart, receives this year’s Baden-Württemberg Honorary Film Award (Baden-Württembergischer Ehrenfilmpreis). Based in the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Heiko Burkardsmaier has uniquely shaped the VFX industry in Stuttgart, both economically and artistically, playing a pivotal role in establishing the region as a European leader in this field. Together with his teams, Heiko Burkardsmaier creates sensational visual effects for Hollywood blockbusters, earning international film awards for their precise and creative work “Made in Stuttgart,” including an Oscar, several Emmys, and numerous Emmy nominations.

Heiko Burkardsmaier, Photo: Filmschau BW

The unendowed honorary film award will be presented at the 30. Filmschau Baden-Württemberg (December 4 to 8, 2024) during the award ceremony on Sunday, December 8, 2024, in the Dürnitz Kulturlounge at the Altes Schloss in Stuttgart. This award honors individuals who help shape the media and film landscape in Baden-Württemberg, provide lasting support through their work, and make a significant contribution to raising the region’s profile beyond state borders.

Under his leadership, outstanding visual effects have been created in Stuttgart for several award-winning feature films and TV projects. These include Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning 3D adventure Hugo, the Emmy-winning HBO series Game of Thrones, the Emmy-winning fantasy series Shadow and Bone, and Netflix’s fantasy series Avatar: The Last Airbender. His teams have also created historical and fantastical settings and effects for films like 13 Minutes (German: Elser – er hätte die Welt verändert), Hindenburg, Independence Day: Resurgence, and Girl You Know It’s True.

The award winner, who is well-connected both regionally and internationally, serves as a lecturer at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, an advisor for the Audiovisual Media program at the Stuttgart Media University (HdM), a board member of the Animation Section of the German Producers Association (Produzentenallianz Deutschland), and a member of the Deutsche Filmakademie as well as the Animation Media Creators Region Stuttgart.

Complete Press Release (German)

Filmschau Baden-Württemberg

Jobs at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg’s Animationsinstitut

The Animationsinstitut is part of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and one of the world’s leading institutions for Animation, Visual Effects, Technical Directing, Animation/Effects Producing and Interactive Media. In their Research and Development Department, a highly skilled and motivated team of researchers, engineers and artists works on the next generation of tools, workflows and content for Film, Animation, VFX and XR-Immersive Media.

They currently have the following vacancies:

Virtual Production Engineer (m/f/d), part time (50 %)
The responsibilities include:
Technical support in the virtual production environment incl. Mocap, Ncam, LED wall (incl. controller), studio lighting, high-end graphics workstation
Supervision of virtual productions at the FABW incl. basic lectures
Support for non-linear production formats (XR) with new technologies
Job posting and application

Lecturers to conduct a workshop on “Diversity-oriented teaching”
The six major German film schools (German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB), Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, University of Television and Film Munich (HFF), International Film School Cologne (ifs), Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) and Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg) drew up a joint position paper with specific voluntary commitments entitled “Together for Gender Equality” at the beginning of 2018. A common goal of the film schools and part of the voluntary commitment is to strengthen the diversity skills of teaching staff. To this end, workshops are to be offered for teachers at the film schools between October 2024 and July 2025.
Job posting and application

To the job page of Animationsinstitut

Photo: Animationsinstitut, FABW