Press Release, Stuttgart, April 6, 2021

 

The Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (May 4 to 9, 2021) must cancel onsite events in cinemas and other locations due to the currently valid coronavirus guidelines. The online programme of the 28th ITFS, originally planned as a hybrid edition, will be expanded and enhanced. One additional offer is the ITFS VR Hub, which will bring the Festival feeling to a digital Schlossplatz. ITFS will also go into extra time with the media library: From May 3 to 16, 2021 ITFS will offer even more film enjoyment to ticket holders.

 

The decision to cancel the onsite section of the Festival was made after intensive discussions and deliberations. The situation is too uncertain now for the organisers to justify hopes and still risk the planning costs required at an early stage:  “Unfortunately, the current situation does not allow us to include the cinemas and other venues for onsite Festival events in our programme planning“, says Artistic Managing Director Ulrich Wegenast. “And it I not foreseeable that the incidence figures and corresponding regulations will change by the beginning of May.”

 

“The onsite meetings and exchange between the general public and guests from the industry is not just traditionally the core of the Festival, but shall also remain to be so, even if in the future online programme sections are to be used to expand the audience community nationally and internationally,” adds Commercial Managing Director Dieter Krauß. “The planned 2021 Festival programme will be offered online as far as possible, to bring the Festival to home screens.”

 

The Festival team is currently working on integrating as many of the planned onsite programme items as possible into the already existing online programme.

 

New at OnlineFestival.ITFS.de: The ITFS VR Hub

For the first time, ITFS is realising an amusing VR experience in Mozilla Hubs with the American XR designer and architect Allison Crank and the Swiss VR expert Christophe Merkle. Unlike many other VR experiences, the multi-user 3D world is easy to access. The ITFS VR Hub can be visited simply via the browser or a VR headset – no downloads are necessary. Visitors can even help shape certain aspects of the digital world in the ITFS VR Hub, which enables casual and random interaction between visitors by means of self-selected avatars. The ITFS VR Hub is a creative place that shows the unlimited possibilities of animation in an immersive, interactive, and real-time way and extends a low-threshold invitation to take a digital walk also to VR newbies. Within the ITFS VR Hub there are additional, exclusive offers such as presentations, talks and creative DIY activities.

 

With the free ITFS live stream on the already established platform OnlineFestival.ITFS.de, ITFS brings the Schlossplatz Open Air to viewers’ homes. Short films and live interviews will be shown here every day from May 4 to 9, 2021 from 2 to 10 pm. In addition to the ITFS live stream, offers for families, children and film enthusiasts complement the OnlineFestival Free programme. With the fee-based ONLINE+ access, current competition films and supporting programmes can be viewed as Video on Demand. Personal statements by filmmakers provide insights into the ideas and stories behind the films. In addition to school and studio presentations, professionals have the opportunity to participate online in live workshops, presentations by renowned and upcoming studios as well as exciting project presentations: under ONLINE PRO on OnlineFestival.ITFS.de. Access is fee-based and includes the complete film programme on ONLINE+.

 

ITFS Tickets

Tickets can be purchased at www.itfs.de/en/tickets: For the public, there is the Festival pass ONLINE+. For the industry, the ITFS offers accreditation for ONLINE PRO.

 

HYBRID tickets already purchased will be converted into ONLINE tickets. The difference will be automatically refunded to ticket holders within the next two weeks. All ONSITE tickets will be automatically cancelled and refunded in full within the next two weeks. Detailed information will be sent to all ticket holders by e-mail.