Both the general public and professionals such as distributors, world sales companies, festivals and filmmakers made intensive use of the offers. Although the number of visitors at ITFS 2022 was lower than in 2019, this was compensated for by the numerous online guests. As of today, Sunday May 8, the organisers have around 10,000 views in the media library. They expect at least a total of 20,000 views by the end of the OnlineFestival.ITFS.de media library on May 15. There were about 20,000 viewers in the cinemas and the various venues. After a slow start at the Open Air due to the weather, the strong weekend brought in almost 25,000 viewers who celebrated a happy and peaceful festival of animation culture.

Ulrich Wegenast, Artistic Managing Director of the ITFS: “Due to Corona and the war in Ukraine, we had more difficult conditions for the festival this year than ever before! It was therefore all the more gratifying that we were not only able to register a record number of entries (approx. 2,100 submissions), but also to offer an intensive programme that dealt with the burning questions of our time and once again made it clear that animation and games are socially and artistically extremely relevant media for adults!”

Dieter Krauß, Commercial Managing Director of the ITFS: “The greatest success of this year’s ITFS is that it could take  place again on site at Schlossplatz and in different locations, thus not only fulfilling the cultural mission of conveying international animation art, but at the same time – for the first time since the pandemic – qualitatively revitalising Stuttgart’s city centre.”

The heart of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film are the competitions, the results of which were announced as every year on Sunday evening at the awards ceremony on May 8, 2022. The two hosts Anja Franke and Alexander Franke led through the gala in two languages. The Grand Prix (State of Baden-Württemberg and the city of Stuttgart Grand Award for Animated Film, which qualifies the winning film directly for the Oscar longlist), the Lotte Reininger Promotion Award for Animated Film (sponsored by MFG Film Funding Baden-Württemberg), Young Animation (sponsored by the LFK Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg and MFG Film Funding Baden-Württemberg), AniMovie, Trickstar Nature Award (sponsored by Verband Region Stuttgart) and the FANtastic Award (sponsored by the FANtastic Jury) were awarded. For the SWR OnlineFilm Audience Award, the audience chose their favourite from all the entries in the International Competition, sponsored by Südwestrundfunk.

Already on Sunday afternoon, the winning team of the Crazy Horse Session – 48H Animation Jam was announced (sponsored by The M.A.R.K. 13 Group, with the support of MFG Film Funding Baden-Württemberg, LFK Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg and Superlala Music Library).

The winners of the Animated Games Award, German Animation Screenplay Award and Trickstar Business Award competitions have already been presented at the Trickstar Professional Awards on May 4 – and the Tricks for Kids Award on May 7.

Press release Tricks for Kids Award

Press release Trickstar Professional Awards (Animated Games Award, German Animation Screenplay Award and Trickstar Business Award)

THE WINNERS

International Competition – State of Baden-Württemberg and the city of Stuttgart Grand Award for Animated Film

Bestia
Hugo Covarrubias, Chile 2021, 15:54 min., Production: Trebol 3 Producciones

Based on true events, the film tells the story of a secret police investigator during the military dictatorship in Chile. Her relationship with her dog, her body and her fears reflect the rupture of her soul and the soul of the country.

Jury statement:
Bestia is a complex, multi-layered, infinitely re-watchable portrait of a torturer. A person who surfaces over and over again throughout human history. It is a puzzling, mysterious, and genuinely disturbing piece of art.

Special Mention 1:                 

Hysteresis
Robert Seidel, Germany 2021, 5:14 min., Production: Robert Seidel

Seidel’s drawings merge with performer Tsuki and machine learning strategies in a feedback system to create a pulsating flow of images in folded spatial configurations. Oval’s music also makes the viewer lose contact with the last points of reference.

Jury statement:
Hysteresis takes us into the world of Fine Arts, where Painting, Body Art, Dance and Contemporary Music intertwine. Experimental Animation at its best, innovative and enjoyable!

Special Mention 2:

Steakhouse
Špela Čadež, France, Germany, Slovenia 2021, 9:34 min., Production: Finta film, Fabian&Fred, RTV, Miyu Distribution

The steak has been marinating for days. The pan is heated. Franc’s stomach is rumbling. But Lisa’s colleagues surprise her with a birthday party. Will Lisa be home in time for dinner?

Jury statement:
A brave and shocking study of passive aggression in a relationship. A quiet but powerful rebellion against the ordinary familiarity of domestic abuse. The artwork and beautifully observed acting create a suffocating atmosphere. However the window is open and the smoke slowly clears, leaving us some room for hope.

Jury: Steven Appleby (London), Renaud Armanet (Cannes), Joanna Quinn (Cardiff), Thomas Renolnder (Vienna), Anna Samo (New York)

Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award for Animated Film

L’Immoral / The Immoral
Ekin Koca, France 2021, 4:13 min., School: La Poudrière

The guest of a restaurant collapses. The other guests, except for one, are in a state of shock.

Jury Statement:
A simple and dramatic comment on the savagery and dangers of the group mentality, told with delightfully dark humour and beautifully observed body language.

SWR OnlineFilm Audience Award:

Bis zum letzten Tropfen / To the last Drop
Simon Schnellmann, Germany 2021, 5:46 min., Production: abwerner.ch

During chemotherapy, an infusion stand fights for the life of a patient.

Young Animation:

Underwater Love
Andrea Falzone, Maria Cristina Fiore, Veronica Martiradonna, Italy 2021, 5:45 min., School: Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia

A girl has many questions towards herself and she faces her problems with some monsters. Anger turns her into a wasp, under water she meets a king. She cries excessively, turns all red and finally she grows, big as a giant.

Jury statement:
The main award goes to the authentic, punk and imperfect film “Underwater Love”  which is about an emotional carousel called life. The raw, vibrant technique perfectly supports a passionate story of becoming a woman. The jury was amazed by the shameful, courageous animation, and the openness of the directors to risk and explore.

Special Mention:                       

Les larmes de la Seine / The Seine’s Tears
Alice Letailleur, Eliott Benard, Etienne Moulin, Hadrien Pinot, Lisa Vicente, Nicolas Mayeur, Philippine Singer, Yanis Belaid, France 2021, 8:49 min., Production: Je Regarde, School: Pôle 3D

On 17 October 1961, workers from Algeria take to the streets of Paris to protest against the curfew imposed by the police. The day later goes down in history as the “Paris Massacre”.

Jury statement:
The Special Mention goes to the film „Les Larmes de la Seine“  which is about the clash of ideas and the brutal forces of history that tend to repeat themselves. It is a poetic story made with an impressive cinematographic and technical maestry.

Jury: François Chalet (Zurich), Flavie Darchen (Cannes), Aneta Ozorke (Amsterdam)

AniMovie:

Flugt / Flee
Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway 2021, 90:00 min., Production: Final Cut For Real, Sun Creature Studio, Vivement Lundi, MostFilms, Mer Film, ARTE France, VPRO – Television

The film tells the story of Amin Nawabi, who struggles with a painful secret he has kept hidden for 20 years that threatens to unravel the life he has built for himself and his future husband. He tells director Jonas Poher Rasmussen for the first time the story of his extraordinary journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan, presented mainly in animated form.

Jury statement:
The ITFS Festival gave us – the jury – quite a challenge. Various films, each with its own unique and beautiful characteristics, were put before us. Some films were driven by deep humanitarian content and cruel displacement of families living under the unbearable rule of authoritarian leaders. Some featured colorfully vivid journeys where friendships were forged and heroes were born. Some were a mixture of the above.

AniMovie Winner: Flee

We are in 2022, emerging from a global pandemic. And yet the world has become an even more dangerous and unpredictable place. What have we truly learned? We know that repression by dictatorial authorities has an unacceptable impact on people’s lives on a daily basis. From not being to able to speak up, to how we interact with those around us – even our own family and loved ones. The fact is, this authoritarianism exists, it is all around us, and it effects  us. Repression underlines the visual language of this film. It’s hybrid documentary and animation style is visually artistic and moving. It touched us all so profoundly.

Special Mention:

Moje Slunce Maad / My Sunny Maad
Michaela Pavlátová, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia 2021, 81:00 min., Production: Negativ Film Production, BFILM, Sacrebleu Productions

When Herra, a young Czech woman, falls in love with Nazir, an Afghan, she has no idea what kind of life awaits her in post-Taliban Afghanistan in 2011. In the family she integrates into, there is the liberal grandfather, the highly intelligent adopted son Maad and the sister-in-law Freshta, who would do anything to escape her husband’s violent grip.

Jury Statement:
First we would like to draw attention to the position of women in a patriarchal society, not east, west but globally. In her film, director Michaela Pavlátová highlights not only the harsh clash between the European and Afghan cultures, but also the warm relationship between the more progressive patriarch of the Kabul family and the young European wife of his son. The character of the little adopted son was strongly developed, drawn and placed in a picturesque cinematographic setting. The little boy was, for us, the real hero of the film.

Jury: Jan-Dirk Bouw (Amsterdam), Romy Roolf (Halle/Saale), Mark Shapiro (Portland)

Trickstar Nature Award:

Varken / Pig
Jorn Leeuwerink, The Netherlands 2022, 8:17 min., Production: Studio Pupil (Tünde Vollenbroek)

A group of animals connect a power grid to the socket-shaped snout of a large, sleeping pig. At first, the animals use the pig’s energy for simple things, but soon they become dependent on a city where everything is automated. How long can this go on?

Jury statement:
The film shows the immeasurable audacity of human incorrigibility, in all its facets, in an entertaining and cheeky way; the short movie weaves together everyday stories about an electric blanket, a kettle, or a smoothie blender, revealing a paradoxical, exploitative, selfish system. The film gets to the point.

Jury: Isabelle Favez (Zurich), Jürgen Hagler (Hagenberg / Linz), Marcel Majer (Ludwigsburg)

FANtastic Award:

The Soloists
Celeste Jamneck, Feben Elias Woldehawariat, Mehrnaz Abdollahina, Razahk Issaka, Yi Liu, France 2021, 7:58 min., Production: GOBELINS

In a village with ridiculous rules, two old ladies and their forbidden dog have lost their sister, which is why they now need a replacement singer for their next show.

Jury statement:
We have never been so united in the FANtastic jury as this year – because we all liked one film in particular. Produced by an international team and in view of the political developments worldwide, this year’s award-winning film convinced us above all with its exuberant creativity full of pop-cultural references and simultaneous return to the traditions of animated film. Filling such a serious and depressing topic as systematic gender injustice with humour is a special art – which is why we are awarding Mehrnaz Abdollahinia, Razahk Issaka, Celeste Jamneck, Yi Liu and Feben Elias Woldehawariat with the FANtastic Award 2022 for their film “The Soloists”. Welcome to the animation family!

Special Mention:                       

Les larmes de la Seine / The Seine’s Tears
Alice Letailleur, Eliott Benard, Etienne Moulin, Hadrien Pinot, Lisa Vicente, Nicolas Mayeur, Philippine Singer, Yanis Belaid, France 2021, 8:49 min., Production: Je Regarde, School: Pôle 3D

On 17 October 1961, workers from Algeria take to the streets of Paris to protest against the curfew imposed by the police. The day later goes down in history as the “Paris Massacre”.

Jury statement:
We give our Special Mention for a film that has inspired us in a unique way. As we all know, democracy is fragile and not available everywhere or to everyone – this is what “Les Larmes de la Seine” by Yanis Belaid, Eliott Benard, Alice Letailleur, Nicolas Mayeur, Etienne Moulin, Hadrien Pinot, Philippine Singer and Lisa Vicente clearly shows us. With a coherent overall concept, impressive music, sophisticated technique and convincing metaphors, this film makes the massacre of Algerian immigrants in Paris 1961 visible without being moralising.

Jury: Folke Damminger, Jürgen Frick, Sebastian Heck, Dorothea Kaufmann, Michaela Rehm, Karen Schmitt, Sven Schoengarth, Sabine Willmann

Crazy Horse Session – 48H Animation Jam

Bath
Shantanu Karkare, Siddhi Vartak, India

The next Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film will take place from April 25 to 30, 2023.

Der Beitrag ITFS back in Stuttgart and online worldwide – First hybrid Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film 2022 successfully concluded erschien zuerst auf ITFS - Internationales Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart.

At the awards ceremony, the children’s jury presented their winning film and the Special Mention from the Tricks for Kids short film competition. The magical host Alexander Merk accompanied the children’s jury and the audience with his magic tricks through the colourful animated film show.

The Tricks for Kids Awardees of ITFS 2022 are:

Award for the best children’s animated film – Winner

Die allerlangweiligste Oma auf der Welt / The most boring Granny in the whole world

Damaris Zielke, Germany 2022, 7:02 min

Production: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg

Greta has the most boring grandma in the whole world. When she falls asleep on the sofa, Greta gets the idea, to play funeral with her grandma. This confronts them with some questions they didn’t ask themselves before. Because what remains when you have to leave life behind?

Statement of the children’s jury:

The film convinced us by explaining the serious topic of death in a humorous way.  We could easily understand the granddaughter’s thoughts. Younger children can get an access to the subject matter that way. We think that it is a film suitable for all ages. The animation is so detailed and the perspective of the images so fascinating that we felt as if we had slipped under the covers too. We also noticed a good mood in the audience. The film leaves us thoughtful but not sad with the following idea: If there are no beautiful memories, then we should make some!

Special Mention:               

Maman Pleut des Cordes / Mum is Pouring Rain

Hugo De Faucompret, France 2021, 29:43 min

Production: Dandelooo, Laïdak Films

This Christmas special relates the story of Jane, a tenacious 8-years-old, who thinks she will spend the holidays with her mom but to her surprise is sent to her Grandma’s instead, in the countryside. Against all odds, Jane’s holidays turn out to be a real adventure. There, she meets Cloclo, a gigantic bum with equal talent for jokes and music.

Statement of the children’s jury:

The film has touched us all very much. The topic of depression is very relevant for many people. That’s why we think it is important that films deal with the disease and educate people about it. The portrayal of depression seemed very credible to us. We think that also younger children should be introduced to the topic. The film made this possible in a beautiful way.

Tricks for Kids Audience Award

Giuseppe

Isabelle Favez, Switzerland 2021, 26 min

Production: Nadasdy Film

This year, Giuseppe, the little hedgehog, doesn’t want to hibernate because his greatest wish is to see snow for once in his life. In search of the snow that is not coming this year, Giuseppe will have a great adventure and make new friends.

Der Beitrag The Tricks for Kids Awards Winners erschien zuerst auf ITFS - Internationales Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart.

At the Crazy Horse Session – 48H Animation Jam, international teams faced the challenge of creating an animated short film around the festival mascot Trixi in 48 hours during the festival. The award ceremony and all films can be viewed free of charge at the ITFS VR HUB on Sunday 15:00. The prize is sponsored by The M.A.R.K. 13 Group, with the support of MFG Film Funding Baden-Württemberg, LFK Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg and Superlala Music Library.

The Opera Matinée: Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperndinck (Director: Axel Ranisch, Musical Director: Christopher Schumann, Video and Animation: Philipp Contag-Lada) at 11:00 at the Open Air is a new production of the Stuttgart State Opera. The video recording of the fairy tale play will be shown on the large LED wall, and there will also be an interview with the creators and opera director Victor Schoner. At 15:00 the animated ballet feature film “Coppelia” will be shown at the Open Air, with producer Romy Roolf, who is also a member of the AniMovie jury, as guest. In the evening at 19:00, all films including the winner of the Crazy Horse Session – 48H Animation Jam competition will be shown on the big screen. At primetime 20:15, the Oscar winner 2022 “Encanto” can be seen.

In the ITFS live stream, online visitors can expect “Lotte from Gadgetville” at 15:00 and “Consuming Spirits” at 20:00. The full programme of the ITFS Live Stream: https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ITFS22_LiveStream_Sonntag.pdf

The AniMovie Competition feature films “Flee“, “Bob Spit – We don’t like People“, “Little Allan – The Human Antenna“, “INU-Oh” and “The Crossing” can all be seen again as repeats on Sunday. The short film competition programmes can be experienced online at https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/onlineplus/ until May 15.

Film and supporting programmes and workshops

The competition programmes can be watched on site and also online at https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/en/onlineplus from May 2 to 15.

• Lecture Focus Austria: Expanded Animation – Tectonic Shift (10:00, Cinema), presented by Jürgen Hagler
• School Presentation – Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (14:00, Gloria 2)
• Focus Austria 3: Austrian Animated Music Videos (15:00, Cinema), curated by Sophia Mara Egger-Karlegger
• Focus Austria – Shorts 2 (15:30, Delphi Arthaus Kino), curated and presented by Gerald Weber (Sixpack Films)
• Wonderwomen – Women in Animation 3 (16:30, Gloria 2)
• Award Winning Reel International Competition (Short Film) (22:00, Gloria 1)
• Award Winning Feature Film AniMovie (22:00, Gloria 2)

Offers to join in – Workshops by Tricks for Kids and GameZone Kids

Children and young people can get active themselves at the workshops at Jugendhaus Mitte, TREFFPUNKT ROTEBÜHLPLATZ and Institut Français. Whether it’s animated film or green screen workshops, or the Children’s Animated Film Academy (in cooperation with Kindermedienland) – here everyone can let off steam creatively. All workshops and registration at https://www.itfs.de/en/programme/familykids/.

www.itfs.de/en/ / Tickets for the ITFS are available at www.itfs.de/en/tickets/.

Der Beitrag The Highlights on Sunday, May 8 erschien zuerst auf ITFS - Internationales Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart.

Another highlight is the In Persona – Music & Animation Special: Jochen Kuhn (20:00, Hospitalhof), with Jochen Kuhn and Daniel Kothenschulte, who, in real life a film critic at the Frankfurter Rundschau and film curator, sits down at the piano, chats with the philosophical-ironic everyday surrealist Kuhn and intones the master’s cinematic works live.

A highlight in the ONLINE PRO section is the meeting of Signe Baumane and Bill Plympton in the Online Talk: Secrets of Indie Animators Revealed. The two animators talk about their careers, show clips from their upcoming films and reveal the secrets of producing independent animated films.

On Saturday, ITFS invites – together with Paul Lange & Co. and SHIMANO – its visitors to the big bike Saturday from 12:00,  a free check-up of bikes at the Shimano professional workshop tent. The open-air stage and LED wall will feature special guests – including Nadine Berneis, ambassador for the Jedermann Race of the Tour of Germany, which will take place in Stuttgart again this year, and Eva Adam, bicycle representative of the City of Stuttgart – and an exciting film programme all about cycling. At the programme Music & Animation: Il. Logik World – FARIDOG (19:00) – based on the prog rock of the 1970s and with animations and film footage by Renaud Armanet and Flavie Darchen of tigoboANIMATION – musicians will create a synaesthetic experience that will celebrate its premiere at the ITFS. Highlights of the film programme are the feature film “The Ogglies – Welcome to Smelliville” at 15:00 and the feature film “Triplets of Belleville” at 20:15.

ONSITE

Films in competitions

The competition programmes can be watched on site and also online at https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/en/onlineplus from May 2 to 15.

• Tricks for Kids 4 (14:00, TREFFPUNKT ROTEBÜHLPLATZ): e.g. Lost Brain (Isabelle Favez / Switzerland), Maman Pleut des Cordes (Hugo De Faucompret / France) and The Bridge of the City (Klym Klymchuk / Ukraine)
• Young Animation 4 (19:00, Gloria 2): e.g. When the Moon was Gibbous (Erika Grace Strada / Denmark), Au revoir Jérôme! (Adam Sillard, Chloé Farr, Gabrielle Selnet / France) and Blood (Ousmane Cisse / France)
• International Competition 5 (21:00, Gloria 1): e.g. The Monkey (Lorenzo Degl’Innocenti, Xoxé Zapata / Portugal, Spain), Steakhouse (Špela Cadež / France, Germany, Slovenia) and HYSTERESIS (Robert Seidel / Germany)
• Trickstar Nature (21:30, Gloria 2)

The filmmaker talks of the International Competition and Young Animation will take place at Café le Théatre starting at 12:00, moderated by Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck (Berlin) and Franka Sachse (Kassel).

Supporting programmes and workshops

• Workshop Talk: VR Animation Film – Studio Lavamachine (10:00, Cinema)
• Workshop Body Involvement in Animation (10:00, Institut Français), with Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo
• School Presentation – Hochschule Luzern meets Cartoon Network (13:30, Gloria 1)
• Film & Presentation: MACH DICH STARK – Animation im Prozess! Versteckte Helden (14:00, Gloria 2), Speaker: Anna Levinson (monströös), Kim Hartmann (MACH DICH STARK)
• Workshop tigoboANIMATIONstudios – Part 2 (14:30, Institut Français)
• School Presentation: Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart (15:00, Cinema)
• In Persona: Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo 2 – Ex Aequo (15:00, Cinema)
• Film & Presentation: Foundation Förderverein ITFS (15:30, Gloria 2), Association for the Promotion of Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film
• In Persona: Thomas Renoldner 2 – Carte Blanche (15:30, Delphi Arthaus Kino)
• Film & Presentation: Haus für Film und Medien Stuttgart (17:00, Gloria 2)
• Best of Animation 4 (17:00, Gloria 1), curated by Mark Shapiro
• In Persona – Music & Animation Special: Jochen Kuhn 3 (20:00, Hospitalhof), with Jochen Kuhn and Daniel Kothenschulte live at the piano
• Night of Shame (20:00, Contained @ Container City), the alternative film show that celebrates filmakers’ worst
• Cult Night – Animation of the Extreme (23:30, Gloria 1)

Offers to join in – Workshops by Tricks for Kids and GameZone Kids
Children and young people can get active themselves at the workshops at Jugendhaus Mitte, TREFFPUNKT ROTEBÜHLPLATZ and Institut Français. Whether it’s animated film or sound design workshops, Minetest Creative Time (as part of GameZone Kids) or the Children’s Animated Film Academy (in cooperation with Kindermedienland) – here everyone can let off steam creatively. All workshops and registration at https://www.itfs.de/en/programme/familykids/.

As part of “MACH DICH STARK – Die Initiative für Kinder im Südwesten“, two workshops are offered. At the Institut Français, the kids will produce an animated film against child poverty, exclusion and inequality at the two-day workshop of the animation studio Tigobo from France. At the free all-day “MACH DICH STARK Superhero*ine Games Workshop“, participants build their first game level with the game engine Unity and together with the team from Spellgarden Games. The basis for this is Liane, Max and Tamara from the short film “Hidden Heroes“, which celebrated its premiere on Schlossplatz at the ITFS Open Air and is now available online https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwfpL9Ws7zM.

ONLINE & ITFS VR HUB

In the ITFS live stream on https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/livestream/, two highlights are „Best of Trickstar Nature Award 2021“ (17:20) and the feature film “Rocks in my Pockets“ (20:15). The complete ITFS Live Stream programme: https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/ITFS22_LiveStream_Samstag.pdf

Highlights in the virtual world of the ITFS VR HUB are the Avatar Workshop with Ronald Wong Ho Hip (South Africa) at 15:00, the Get-together (17:00) and at 22:00, the DJ Set by Michael Fakesch, who is responsible for the sound of the ITFS 2022 trailer “Black is Back!”. In the ONLINE PRO section, the School Presentation of the Communication University of China will take place at 14:00.

www.itfs.de/en/ / Tickets for the ITFS are available at www.itfs.de/en/tickets/.

Der Beitrag The Highlights on Saturday, May 7 erschien zuerst auf ITFS - Internationales Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart.

German Animation Screenplay Award

This year, two screenplay prizes were awarded: The award for the best screenplay, endowed with 2,500 € and donated by the Animation Media Cluster Region Stuttgart (AMCRS), and the award for the screenplay with the greatest international market potential in the amount of 1,500 €, donated by Pink Parrot Media, Montreal/Madrid.

The aim of the awards is to promote promising authors, to contribute to the improvement of the quality of the material and the international market potential of animated feature films, as well as to highlight the importance of professional scriptwriting and, consequently, more attractive films.

The award for the best screenplay goes to:

Dino Mite / Minus Drei und die verlorene Stadt
screenplay: Armin Prediger, Andreas Völlinger, production: Holger Weiss and Dominique Schuchmann, M.A.R.K.13 – COM, Björn Magsig and Sandra Schießl, TRIKK 17

Statement of the jury, consisting of Peter Keydel (Producer Mago Production, Barcelona), Holger Weiss (Founder & CEO of M.A.R.K.13 Group, Stuttgart), Silke Wilfinger (Founder of SilkWayFilms, Munich), Emely Christians (Producer & CEO of Ulysses Filmproduktion, Hamburg) and Tania Pinto de Cunha (President and Director Int. Sales and Aquisitions, Pink Parrot Media, Madrid):

“Upside Down” is a popular game – and an exciting premise for a children’s film that surprisingly approaches this question: what if a dinosaur had a pet, an untamed human prehistoric girl? What if the dinosaur is the civilized creature and the human child takes on the role of the “wild” pet? Andreas Völlinger and Armin Prediger have turned this idea into a screenplay for an animated film that is dramaturgically clear, extremely funny and with great dialogue wit. They always have their target group in mind! With an exciting and action-packed plot, but at least as much heart and humor, the screenplay inspires and you can hardly wait to see this story on the big screen, together with lots of children!”

The award for the best screenplay with the greatest international market potential goes to:

Little Miss Santa              
screenplay: Jasmina Kallay, production: Lilian Klages (Dreamin’ Dolphin Film, Munich)

Jury statement:

“I guess we will all agree Christmas is a very special time of the year. And our LITTLE MISS SANTA is going to make it even better. This is a charming Christmas story full of love, friendship and understanding of each other’s needs. Unlike other Christmas films we all know and most certainly adore, this one is quite special.”

A Special Mention each goes to the screenplays Mr. Wiggles (screenplay: André Heeger) and The (mostly) marvelous MURRAY (screenplay: Christian Kaps).

Animated Games Award Germany:

The Animated Games Award Germany 2022 is awarded to the best and most innovative animation-based computer game from Germany and comes with prize money of €5,000, sponsored by MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg.

The Animated Games Award Germany 2022 goes to:

Minute of Islands
developer: Studio Fizbin GmbH, publisher: Mixtvision Mediengesellschaft mbH

Statement of the jury, consisting of Alex Cojocaru (Project Manager Games BW, Unit Culture and Creative Industries, MFG Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart), Bettina Wegenast (Director PlayBern-Festival for Games & Culture, Bern) and Stephan Wirth (Founder & CEO Gentlymad Studios, Wiesbaden):

“This year’s Animated Games Award Germany features five very strong submissions. It was not easy for us, the jury, to make a decision, especially because each of the five game nominations fascinates and inspires in a very individual way. But there can only be one winner. Minute of Islands is an independent game with depth in both art design and story. Animations are used sparingly in the hand-drawn graphics, but in a pointed and considered way. They either enliven the 2D graphics or draw the eye to objects that are important to the story or further gameplay. Therefore, we are happy to present “Minute of Islands” with the Animated Games Award Germany with full conviction.”

A special mention goes to Lacuna (developer: DigiTales Interactive, publisher: Assemble Entertainment).

Trickstar Business Award
Trickstar Business Award is the name of the prize that honours companies and projects in the field of animation that have an innovative and groundbreaking business model. The prize money of €7,500 is sponsored by the Verband Region Stuttgart. The Trickstar Business Award is the world’s first animation prize with an explicit business focus.

The winner of the Trickstar Business Award 2022:

Business Model Yullbe GO

Mack NeXT, Rust

Statement of the jury, consisting of Jens Gutfleisch (Managing Director, Film Commission Region Stuttgart), Marc König (Partner at VentureGate, Stuttgart), Solveig Langeland (Managing Director, Sola Media, Stuttgart), Tünde Vollenbroek (Producer, Studio Pupil, Curator at Kaboom Animation Festival, Amsterdam and Animasyros, Greece) and Gabriele M. Walther (Founder, CEO at Caligari Film- und Fernsehproduktion, Munich, Traffix Entertainment, Stuttgart).

“This year the jury of the Trickstar Business Award is pleased to reward MackNeXT, for the company perfectly embodies the Award’s core. MackNeXT GmbH has developed from an in-house agency to an international creator and consultant of innovative theme park design, media-based entertainment and story-telling company. Their product YULLBE Go showed relevance to the market and business potential, as well as an innovatively and promise that the Trickstar Business Award stands for.

Also from the point of view of the industry, MackNext and its Product YULLBE Go stood out amongst this year’s submissions. YULLBE Go is a Free Roaming VR Attraction, enabling 88 guests per Hour to move through a virtual world in an 80 square meter room. The player’s hands and feet are traced by specially developed hardware. Thereby, the system differs from its competitors by the high mobility and capacity at an attractive price. It stands so out also as a new business case for 3D attractions.”

The VR experience Yullbe Go can be tried out on site at the ITFS from April 30 to May 7, daily from 11:00 to 19:00 at the Breuninger store in Stuttgart.

The jury also awards two Special Mentions to Art Minute (Die Asta Experience & Zentropa Productions (Hvidovre, Denmark)– interactive animated series and short film formats for museums) and Colored (Noire) (Novaya (Paris, France) – immersive installation with augmented reality “Artminute Format”).

The three nominated projects of the Trickstar Business Award will be presented on Friday, May 6, at 16:00 on https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/en in the Online Pro section.

Der Beitrag The winners of the Trickstar Professional Awards erschien zuerst auf ITFS - Internationales Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart.

ONSITE
Films in competitions

The competition programmes can be watched on site and also online at https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/en/onlineplus from May 2 to 15.

• Tricks for Kids 3 (14:00, TREFFPUNKT ROTEBÜHLPLATZ): e. g. Moules-Frites (Nicolas Hu / France), In the Upper Room (Alexander Gratzer / Hungary) and There You Are (Rui Huang / USA)
• Young Animation 3 (19:00, Gloria 2): e. g. In His Mercy (Christoph Büttner / Germany), Au cas où le corps éxulte (Florian Genthial / France) and To Kill the Birds & the Bees (Calleen Koh / Singapur)
• AniMovie (21:30, Hospitalhof): Bob Spit – We don’t like people (Cesar Cabral / Brazil)
• Internationaler Wettbewerb 4 (21:00, Gloria 1): e. g. Slouch (Michael Bohnenstingl / Germany), Layl (Ahmad Saleh / Germany, Palestine, Qatar) and Ur azpian lore (Aitor Oñederra / Spain)

The filmmaker talks of the International Competition and Young Animation will take place at Café le Théatre starting at 12:00, moderated by Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck (Berlin) and Franka Sachse (Kassel).

The ITFS Open Air cinema on Stuttgart’s Schlossplatz offers a colourful daily programme for all film fans. Here, animated short films from the Tricks for Kids competitions of recent years can be seen starting at 12:00, as well as the feature film “ Gregs Tagebuch: Von Idioten umzingelt!” at 15:00, “Ukraine Benefit: Animation by Linoleum” at 18:30 and the feature film “Turning Red” at 20:15.

Supporting programmes and workshops

• Workshop Talk: ANIDOX:LAB (10:00, Cinema), presented by Uri Kranot, in cooperation with Creative Europe Desk München
• Indie Online Research Project: XR Content Distribution (12:30, Cinema), Speaker: Michelle Kranot
• Focus Austria – School Presentations Film Schools from Austria (13:30, Gloria 2)
• Workshop Talk Warner Media: What’s next? Great Ideas can come from Anywhere! (14:00, Gloria 2)
• Wonderwomen – Women in Animation 2 (14:00, Hospitalhof)
• Workshop tigoboANIMATIONstudios – Part 1 (14:30, Institut Français), as part of MACH DICH STARK – Die Initiative für Kinder im Südwesten
• Work in Progress – Animated Feature-length Films (15:00, Cinema)
• Focus Austria In Persona: Shorts 1 (15:30, Delphi Arthaus Kino)
• Work in Progress – Animated Series (16:00, Gloria 2)
• In Persona: Regina Pessoa (16:30, Gloria 2)
• In Persona: Marion Rasche (16:30, Hospitalhof)
• Best of Animation 3 (17:00, Gloria 1), curated by Mark Shapiro
• Studio Präsentation Focus Austria (17:30, Cinema), LWZ Design & Animation, Arx Anima, Causa Creations
• In Persona: Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo 1 (20:00, Cinema)
• Cult Night – Sous le Tapis Rouge (22:30, Cinema), curated by Renaud Armanet & Flavie Darchen
• Cult Night – Pandemic Animation (23:30, Gloria 1)

More highlights:

The Children’s Animated Film Academy (in cooperation with Kindermedienland Baden-Württemberg) starts at Jugendhaus Mitte.

At the Artist Talk accompanying the exhibition “Elementarteilchen” (Elementary Particles), which can be seen at Galerie b in the Stuttgart Public Library until May 28, François Chalet will tell a story in black and white using the basic shapes of circle, line and polygon on May 6 at 16:00, entering into dialogue with the audience and the architecture of the location.

ONLINE & ITFS VR HUB

Starting at 14:00, the ITFS live stream on https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/livestream/ will bring the Stuttgart Schlossplatz and the open air programme (with individual programme deviations) to the world. Two highlights are the feature film “Frank and Wendy” at 20:15 and „Ukraine Benefit: Animation by Linoleum“ at 18:30. Highlights in the virtual world of the ITFS VR HUB are the Avatar Workshop with Ronald Wong Ho Hip (South Africa) at 15:00 and the Get-together (17:00). In the evening at 22:00, Michael Fakesch, who is responsible for the sound of the ITFS 2022 trailer “Black is Back!”, will be playing in the club of the ITFS VR Hub. The music producer, sound designer, DJ, lecturer and film music composer was one of the two founders and members of the electro duo Funkstörung and has already worked for Björk, Wu-Tang Clan, Jean-Michel Jarre, Notwist and Nicolas Winding Refn. In the ONLINE PRO section, the work in progress “The Orbit of Minor Satellites – Chris Sullivan” will take place at 14:00. In addition, the three finalists of the Trickstar Business Award will be presented at 16:00.

www.itfs.de/en/ / Tickets for the ITFS are available at www.itfs.de/en/tickets/.

Der Beitrag The Highlights on Friday, May 6 erschien zuerst auf ITFS - Internationales Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart.

The competition programmes can be watched on site and also online at https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/en/onlineplus from May 2 to 15.

AniMovie (11:00, Hospitalhof): My Sunny Maad (Michaela Pavlátová / France, Czech Republic, Slovakia) German premiere

AniMovie (13:30, Gloria 1): The Crossing (Florence Miailhe / France, Germany, Czech Republic)

Tricks for Kids 2 (14:00, TREFFPUNKT ROTEBÜHLPLATZ): including Troll Girl (Kay Carmichael / South Africa), The Most Boring Grandma in the World (Damaris Zielke / Germany) and The Bird A Nest (Anu Kadri Uustalu / Estonia)

AniMovie/Kids (14:00, Hospitalhof): Even Mice Belong in Heaven (Denisa Grimmová, Jan Bubeníček / Czech Republic, France, Poland, Slovakia)

AniMovie/Kids (16:00, Gloria 1): Litte Allan – The Human Antenna (Amalie Næsby Fick / Denmark) World Premiere

AniMovie/Kids (16:30, Hospitalhof): Poupelle of Chimney Town (Yusuke Hirota / Japan)

Young Animation 2 (19:00., Gloria 2): including An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It (Lachlan Pendragon / Australia), The Boy and the Fire (Haomin Lu / China) and Les larmes de la Seine (Alice Letailleur, Eliott Benard, Etienne Moulin, Hadrien Pinot, Lisa Vicente, Nicolas Mayeur, Philippine Singer, Yanis Belaid / France)

International Competition 3 (21:00, Gloria 1): including TIO (Juan Medina / Mexico), Lockdown Dreamscape (Nicolas Gebbe / Germany) and The Hangman at Home (Michelle and Uri Kranot / Canada, Denmark, France)

The filmmaker talks of the International Competition and Young Animation will take place at Café le Théatre starting at 12:00.

The ITFS Open Air cinema on Stuttgart’s Schlossplatz offers a colorful daily programme for all film fans. Here, animated short films from the Tricks for Kids competitions of recent years can be seen starting at 12:00, as well as the feature film “Der kleine Rabe Socke – Suche nach dem verlorenen Schatz” at 15:00 and the feature film “Josep” at 20:15.

Supporting programmes and workshops:

Workshop Talk: Sisters of the Mist – When Comics and Animation Overlap (10:00, Cinema) with Marlyn Spaaij, Tünde Vollenbroek and Niamh Jones

School Presentation: NFTS Retrospective 2 – National Film & Television School Beaconsfield (14:00, Gloria 2), curated by Robert Bradbrook

Focus Austria In Persona: Thomas Renoldner (15:30, Delphi Arthaus Kino)

In Persona: Steven Appleby (16:30, Gloria 2)

Best of Animation 2 (17:00, Gloria 1), curated by Mark Shapiro

In Persona: Jochen Kuhn 2 (17:30, Cinema)

Animated Oscars (20:00, Cinema) with Member of the Academy Ron Diamond

ITFMX Screening: Ron’s gone wrong (20:00, Hospitalhof)

Focus Austria AniMovie Special: Snotty Boy (20:00, Delphi Arthaus Kino)

Cult Night – Best Animated Music Videos (22:30, Cinema) presented by Pop-Büro Region Stuttgart

GameZone

The GameZone is the digital playground of the ITFS and dedicated to different formats. In 2022, the GameZone will take place both on-site at the Jugendhaus Mitte and with different formats in the free online section on OnlineFestival.ITFS.de as well as in the ITFS VR Hub. In cooperation with the Landesanstalt für Kommunikation Baden-Württemberg (LFK), the Edutain Me 8.0 event will take place on May 5, 14:00 in Jugendhaus Mitte. Here, developers, publishers, and representatives from higher education and training as well as politics will discuss how games can be used purposefully in the classroom, what criteria should thereby be considered, and in what form an introduction of digital media makes sense for the teaching structure. This year’s agenda also includes the topic of inclusion and diversity. Bettina Wegenast will start off by presenting the accessible games festival PlayBern, including examples of best practice. The games can additionally be tested on site within the GameZone. Michael Möller presents “Research Results from the Classroom” and explains the results from previous projects around the use of games in the classroom. The LfK presents its project “Games in the Classroom – Gender and Sexuality in Games”. The Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Baden-Württemberg presents the new project “Timetris“, with which state history can be experienced in a playful way.

In the animation theater “Animeo and Humania” by Theater Marie (Aarau) and François Chalet (Zurich), actress and animated being romance each other and fall for the temptation of otherness, the desire to win over the counterpart.

The combination of these two art forms, which could not be more contrary, has resulted in a unique evening of theatre. The play will take place every evening from May 5 to 7, 19:00 at the FITZ! Figurentheater.

The Workshop Talk: Halbautomaten Kommunikationsdesign on 16:15 takes the audience to the Stuttgart Planetarium where the Stuttgart-based studio for communication and design present their ‘Kinetarium’. In the ‘Kinetarium’, visitors control events on the planetarium dome together and in real time – via a website on their smartphone.

ONLINE & ITFS VR HUB

Starting at 14:00, the ITFS live stream on https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/livestream/ will bring the Stuttgart Schlossplatz and the open air programme (with individual programme deviations) to the wider world. One of the highlights is the feature film “Lost in tel Aviv” at 20:15. Highlights in the virtual world of the ITFS VR HUB are the workshop Designing the ITFS Mozilla Hubs Space (Allison Crank & Christophe Merkle, 15:00), the presentation about “Friedenskinder“, a VR installation about Vienna in the 1940s and the Get-together (17:00).

In the ITFS VR HUB as well as in the ONLINE PRO area, the School Presentation of The Animation School – South Africa (14:00) and the Lecture Content Production – Science Dome of experimenta Heilbronn (16:00) will be presented, as well as the Online Talk with Academy Award winners and NFTS Alumni Nick Park, Alison Snowden and David Fine (17:00).

www.itfs.de/en/ / Tickets for the ITFS are available at www.itfs.de/en/tickets/.

Der Beitrag The Highlights on Thursday, May 5 erschien zuerst auf ITFS - Internationales Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart.

Films in competition

The competition programmes can be watched on site and also online at https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/en/onlineplus from May 2 to 15.

• International Competition 1 (Rep., 11:00, Gloria 1): including Mondo Domino (Suki / France), Deep Water (Anna Dudko / Ukraine) and Varken (Jorn Leeuwerink / Netherlands).
• AniMovie (13:30, Gloria 1): INU-OH (Masaaki Yuasa / China, Japan)
• Tricks for Kids 1 (14:00, TREFFPUNKT ROTEBÜHLPLATZ): including BATTERY DADDY (Seung-bae Jeon / South Korea), I’m not afraid! (Marita Mayer / Germany, Norway) and Pip and Posy: Night Pip (Matt Tea / United Kingdom).
• Young Animation 1 (19:00, Gloria 2): including BusLine35A (Elena Felici / Denmark), Flamenco (Paulo Moreno Scatena / Germany) and Don’t Drop the Goose (Jurie Visagie / South Africa)
• AniMovie (20:00, Cinema): Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen / Denmark, France, Sweden, Norway), presented by the Haus des Dokumentarfilms
• International Competition 2 (21:00, Gloria 1): including the Oscar-nominated film Bestia (Hugo Covarrubias / Chile), Noir-Soleil (Marie Larrivé / France) and Your Bad Animals (Amit Cohen, Ido Shapira / Israel).

The filmmaker talks of the International Competition and Young Animation will take place at Café le Théatre starting at 12:00.

Supporting programmes and workshops

• Master Class: Meet Ze Artists (10:00, Gloria 2) with Renaud Armanet
• Workshop Talk: Madame Choi and the Monsters (10:00, Cinema) with Sheree Domingo and Patrick Spät, winners of the Berthold Leibinger Stiftung Comic Book Award 2022
• Animation around Europe: Romanian Animated Shorts (12:30, Cinema), curated by Mihai Mitrica.
• In Persona: Marion Rasche 1 (14:00, Gloria 2), in cooperation with the DEFA Foundation
• Comic Workshop Part 1 (14:00, Jugendhaus Mitte) with Davor Bakara
• Black is Back! 1 (14:00, Hospitalhof), curated by Ulrich Wegenast
• XPRMTL Animation (15:00, Cinema), curated by Max Hattler, Giovanna Thiery and Ulrich Wegenast
• In Persona: Daniel Höpfner (15:30, Delphi Arthaus Kino)
• AniMovie/Kids (16:00, Gloria 1): Maya the Bee – The Secret Kingdom (Noel Cleary, Alexs Stadermann / Germany, Australia) as preview, presented by Studio 100 and Maya the Bee herself as guest
• School Presentation: NFTS Retrospective 1 – National Film & Television School Beaconsfield (16:30, Gloria 2), curated by Robert Bradbrook
• In Persona: Jochen Kuhn 1 (16:30, Hospitalhof)
• Best of Animation 1 (17:00, Gloria 1), curated by Mark Shapiro
• Wonderwomen – Women in Animation 1 (19:00, Hospitalhof), curated by Waltraud Grausgruber
• Studio Presentation & Talk: “The House” by Nexus Studios for Netflix (17:30, Cinema) with Marc James Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Paloma Baeza and Joos Zoetebier
• Panorama 1 (21:30, Gloria 2).
• Black is Back! 2 (21:30, Hospitalhof), curated by Ulrich Wegenast

At the Trickstar Professional Awards, ITFS will present the Trickstar Business Award, the German Animated Screenplay Award and the Animated Games Award Germany. The awards will be presented at the Trickstar Professional Awards Gala on May 4, 18:30 at the L-Bank Rotunde in Stuttgart. The gala will be held in English and will also be live-streamed on Onlinefestival.ITFS.de in the ONLINE+ section. Presenter Anja Lange will lead through the evening with numerous studio guests. Further information and the nominees

Beforehand, the Animation Production Days conference will take place in the L-Bank Rotunde from 13:45.

ONLINE & ITFS VR HUB

Starting at 14:00, the ITFS live stream on https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/livestream/ will bring the Stuttgart Schlossplatz and the open air programme (with individual programme deviations) to the world. One of the highlights is the feature film “Sita Sings the Blues” at 15:00 and the feature film “Idiots and Angels” at 20:15. Highlights in the virtual world of the ITFS VR HUB are the workshop Building VR MetaSpaces with Mozilla Hubs (Raoul Postel / Netherlands, 15:00), the Talk Playing with Animation (Michael Frei / Switzerland, 17:00) and the Get-together (17:00). In the ITFS VR HUB as well as in the ONLINE PRO area, the Animation Production Days Conference and the School Presentation of the National Yunlin University Taiwan can be followed.

www.itfs.de/en/ / Tickets for the ITFS are available at www.itfs.de/en/tickets/.

The project “ITFS & Raumwelten VR Hub“ is developed as part of “dive in. Programme for Digital Interactions” of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) with funding by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) through the NEUSTART KULTUR programme.

Der Beitrag The Highlights on Wednesday, May 4 erschien zuerst auf ITFS - Internationales Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart.

Here are the highlights of ITFS 2022 on May 3:

ONSITE

Onsite, the ITFS starts with the opening ceremony at 19:00 in the Gloria 1 cinema. The moderators Anja Lange and Alexander Franke will lead through the evening with prominent guests, introduce the international juries of the ITFS, the short films of the International Competition 1 and the filmmakers, most of whom will be present. Another guest at the opening is the Ukrainian producer Michael Margulis (Kapi Animation) with a statement on the critical situation of art and animation in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion.

The popular Open Air cinema on Stuttgart’s Schlossplatz offers a colourful programme for all film fans from Tuesday. Animated short films from the Tricks for Kids competitions of the last few years as well as the animated feature film “Fritzi – Eine Wendewundergeschichte” can be experienced here from 12:00 CET. From 17:00, short films and music videos from the current ITFS programme and previous years will start. At 20:15 the first Open Air day will close with the feature-length film “The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild“.

Also at other locations in Stuttgart the ITFS will be showing animation in all its facets. The VR experience “YULLBE Go” can be tried out on the third floor of the Breuninger store until May 7. “SAVING WATER“, a projection mapping crowd game by PONG.Li Studios, can be played outside on the facade. In the directly neighbouring DOQU (Dorotheen Quartier), there will be an all-day short film programme called “Urban Animation“. The nominated games of the Animated Games Award Germany can be tested at the Jugendhaus Mitte, and the GameZone Kids workshops of the ComputerspielSchule Stuttgart and the Mobile Medienschule Stuttgart Ost will also start. The Galerie B of the Stuttgart City Library will be showing the exhibition “Elementarteilchen” by François Chalet, the creator of the ITFS 2022 trailer “Back to Black!” until May 28. The exhibition “Artists Support Ukraine” can be seen at the VAUND Store Stuttgart until May 8 and is a collaboration between German and Ukrainian artists and a project of the Artists Support Ukraine Foundation (ASU). The aim of ASU is to spread information about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the brutality of the war, while at the same time supporting the Ukrainian cultural sector.

ONLINE & ITFS VR HUB

The ITFS Live Stream on https://onlinefestival.itfs.de/en/itfs-live-stream/ starts at 14:00 CET and brings the Open Air (with individual programme deviations) to the world. Two highlights are the feature films “Mia & The Migoo” at 15:00 and “$9.99” at 20:15. Other highlights in the ITFS online supplement are, in the virtual world of the ITFS VR HUB, the VR installation “Friedenskinder” by Causa Creations about Vienna in the 1940s, the exhibition “Black is Back – Black & White in Computer Games” and the GameZone Talents. Kids Kino Industry, the ITFS and the Animation Production Days invite to the free webinar “SMART COLLABORATION – Embracing New Technical Tools in Animation” with Kim Adams & Julia Parfitt (Nexus Studios London / Los Angeles) and Phil Stewart (Head of Realtime, Blue Zoo, London), moderated by Prof. Lilian Klages at 16:00. Click here to register!

Der Beitrag The Highlights on Tuesday, May 3 erschien zuerst auf ITFS - Internationales Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart.

ITFS has very good contacts in Ukraine and Russia based on the long history of partnerships and cooperation, which is also reflected in this year’s Festival. Until the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, the Krok Festival was a wonderful Ukrainian-Russian event for animation culture. Today we can see that many Russian animators – despite massive repression – have clearly distanced themselves from the war in Ukraine – with all the personal consequences. Our thanks go to these courageous persons!

At the same time, we see the understandable anger of Ukrainians and the increasing hatred, which is more than comprehensible in view of the many deaths, rapes and other suffering inflicted on the civilian population. ITFS is massively urged by Ukrainian filmmakers to remove Russian films from its programme. This wish is understandable. At the same time, we know many Russian artists and animation filmmakers who are critical and represent an important voice in Russia against the war and the Russian aggressors. We are convinced that a country like Russia can only be changed from within. Therefore, we find it difficult to remove Russian films from the programme, as the creators are long-time partners and friends. Many Russian producers have removed the state logos and insignia from their films at our request. We are very grateful for this.

At the same time, we are confronted with the situation that Ukrainian filmmakers withdraw their films from the programme if Russian films are shown. In our view, this perspective lacks differentiation and is also strategically wrong. In our opinion, every critical voice, every form of opposition in Russia should be strengthened and not generally condemned. But that is the logic of war, which hardly anyone seems to be able to escape at the moment.

We are not neutral in this war, but quite clearly on the side of the maltreated Ukrainian people, who are confronted with – all facts point to this – a genocide such as it was no longer thought possible in the 21st century. Therefore, we have decided, with a heavy heart and many doubts, to remove the Russian films from the official programme, insofar as this was still technically possible.

In addition, we try to express our solidarity with Ukraine by presenting the special programme “Ukraine Benefit: Animation by Linoleum” at the ITFS Open Air Cinema (Friday, 6 May, 6:30 pm) and at OnlineFestival.ITFS.de as well as by participating in the exhibition “Artists Support Ukraine” (28 April to 8 May at VAUND, Schulstraße 17, gallery level).

We can only hope that hatred will be followed by reconciliation eventually, as was possible between France and Germany after the Second World War. We can only hope that this senseless and monstrous war will end very soon!

Dieter Krauß, Prof. Ulrich Wegenast, Andrea Bauer

Der Beitrag Statement on the war in Ukraine and the culture of animation at the ITFS erschien zuerst auf ITFS - Internationales Trickfilmfestival Stuttgart.