Screenwriter Schiar Simo is the winner of the 2024 Thomas Strittmatter Prize, endowed with 20,000 euros by MFG Filmförderung, for his screenplay for the black humor thriller “Himmelfahrt“. In the story, a Syrian man who is considered a model migrant and lives as a baker in Germany turns out to be a terrorist ‘sleeper’ who unexpectedly has to choose between his new home and his sacred mission.
The Thomas Strittmatter Prize was presented by Arne Braun, State Secretary of the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg, and MFG Managing Director Carl Bergengruen at a festive reception on the fringes of the 74. Berlinale at the Baden-Württemberg State Representation. A number of current MFG-funded productions were also presented, in particular the Berlinale films “Treasure” by director Julia von Heinz, the German-Tanzanian documentary “The Empty Tomb” by directors Cece Mlay and Agnes Lisa Wegner and the youth drama “Elbow” by Aslı Özarslan.
In addition to Baden-Württemberg’s Minister President Winfried Kretschmann and personalities and filmmakers from numerous fields, representatives of the AMCRS and their HEROES were also guests, including the team of the animated film “Giants of La Mancha” (including Dominique Schuchmann and Wolfgang Kerber (M.A.R.K. 13) as well as Benjamin Ey (Studio 100) and one of the voice actors, Julian Janssen (‘Checker’ team)), Jan Pinkava (Animationsinsitut), Lilian Klages (Eagle Eye Filmproduktion), Kate Forsdick (M.A.R.K. 13), Heiko Burkardsmaier (Accenture Song Content Germany GmbH), Sebastian Runschke (SERU Animation), Robert Gehring (MFG), AMCRS manager Stefanie Larson and many more.
10:00 CET FMX König-Karl-Halle Realtime Worlds: Tips and Tricks for Creating Stunning Visuals in Camera and Post Nathan Larouche, VFX Supervisor, Mark Dauth, Compositor, Pixomondo https://fmx.de/en/program-2023/detail/event/26096
12:30 CET FMX Bertha-Benz-Saal & VIDEO ON DEMAND (from April 28) VFX Team Sustainability: Growing and Retaining Talent Marian Dobrunz, Head of HR, RISE | Visual Effects Studios, Jasmin Hasel, Vice President & Executive Producer European Operations, Scanline VFX https://fmx.de/en/program-2023/detail/event/26112
12:30 CET FMX Turm Aalen Challenging Productions for Web/TV/Cinema: TALES OF ZALE and HUI BUH 2 Peter Lames, Accenture Song / Associate VFX Supervisor, Animationsinstitut Alumnus, Roland Petrizza, Senior Digital Compositor at Accenture Song, Accenture Song Content Germany GmbH, Filmakademie Alumnus, Sveta Yuferova, Director, Animationsinstitut Alumna https://fmx.de/en/program-2023/detail/event/26132
13:05 CET FMX Raum Mannheim, The Houdini Suite Our Solaris experience so far at RISE Bernhard Esperester, Head of Lighting, Oliver Markowski, Head of 3D, Fuat Yüksel, Head of FX, RISE | Visual Effects Studios https://fmx.de/en/program-2023/detail/event/27376
13:30 CET FMX School Campus Meet up with all Fresh Vision talents & European Animation Development Lab „Animation Sans Frontières“ (ASF). Animationsinstitut
14:30 CET FMX Bertha-Benz-Saal & VIDEO ON DEMAND (from April 28) Is the (current) VFX Business Model Sustainable? Panel hosted by Heiko Burkardsmaier (VFX Executive Producer, Accenture song VFX) https://fmx.de/en/program-2023/detail/event/26694
14:30 CET FMX Turm Aalen & Video on Demand (from April 28) From VR to animated installations: THE FAMILY PORTRAIT and TALES FROM SODA ISLAND Dan Franke, VR Artist & Co-Founder and Director of Studio Syro, Animationsinstitut Alumnus https://fmx.de/en/program-2023/detail/event/26133
15:45 CET FMX Raum Heilbronn, The Autodesk Suite & VIDEO ON DEMAND (from April 28) Bad Ghouls: A look at the award-winning workflow behind A Calling. From the Desert. To the Sea Animationsinstitut Students & Alumni: Lennard Fricke, VFX Producer, Lukas Kapp, Creature TD, Lukas Löffler, Lead Compositor, Mario Bertsch, VFX Supervisor, Till Sander-Titgemeyer, Character Artist https://fmx.de/en/program-2023/detail/event/27310
18:15 CET FMX Meidinger-Saal & Video on Demand (from April 28) Fully Immersive Adaptations: Hölderlin’s Echo VR and ShakesVR Professor Susanne Marschall, University of Tübingen https://fmx.de/en/program-2023/detail/event/26055
19:00 CET FMX, FMX Square in front of Haus der Wirtschaft Thursday GET-TOGETHER sponsored by RISE | Visual Effects Studios
