A hybrid setup for ITFS: From May 4 to 9, 2021, the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS), one of the most important festivals for animated film, will take place both onsite at various venues and with an extensive programme online at OnlineFestival.ITFS.de
The organisers of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) are starting the year 2021 with confidence. When the ITFS had to be cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a quick rethink was called for. Thus, ITFS 2020 was one of the first film festivals to launch as a purely online edition with OnlineFestival.ITFS.de and thus reached new target audiences, too. The positive feedback, both in terms of quality and quantity, has shown: online is an important channel for giving filmmakers a platform and fans all over the world the chance to participate in ITFS.
“For ITFS 2021, we hope to return to the Festival’s actual and important core with personal, direct encounters. However, with the new experience gained in 2020, we have planned an expansion for the 28th ITFS with a first-time hybrid version,” says Dieter Krauß, Commercial Managing Director of ITFS. “The surveys on last year’s online edition of ITFS clearly showed that both industry and audience would like to see a continuation of the online section with its media centre and streaming opportunities,” Artistic Managing Director Prof. Ulrich Wegenast points out.
ITFS Hybrid: Close Integration between onsite and online
Whether film fans, families, or professionals – ITFS offers both onsite and digital options for every target audience, the choice is up to visitors. This is also reflected in the different types of tickets that will be available at www.itfs.de. For the public, there are the festival passes: HYBRID, ONSITE, or ONLINE+. For the industry, ITFS offers HYBRID and ONLINE PRO accreditation.
The planned onsite events are dependent on the development of the pandemic. As of now, cinema screenings and events such as workshops and presentations are planned to take place at Innenstadtkinos, and at other venues. Part of the GameZone, including the games exhibition “Wonderwomen – Women in Games & Animation at Kunstmuseum Stuttgart and GameZone Kids at Jugendhaus Mitte are also to take place onsite – with supplementary online activities in the free section of OnlineFestival.ITFS.de. In addition, most of the ITFS 2020 competition entries that could only be shown online last year are to be screened in cinemas in 2021.
For all those who cannot be onsite or prefer to access the ITFS programme from home: Free live streaming is planned on the already established OnlineFestival.ITFS.de platform, to bring the Festival atmosphere on Schlossplatz to the web. Opportunities for families, children and film enthusiasts complete the OnlineFestival Free programme.
With the fee-based ONLINE+ access, live streams or on-demand viewing of current competition films and a supporting programme will be available. Personal filmmaker statements provide insights into the ideas and stories behind the films.
ONLINE PRO at OnlineFestival.ITFS.de offers professionals, in addition to onsite school and studio presentations, the opportunity to participate online in live workshops and presentations by renowned studios. The fee-based access includes the entire ONLINE+ film programme.
“Creating*Diversity” is the motto for ITFS 2021
The motto “Creating*Diversity” underlines that artistic media such as animation and games not only represent aesthetic and social diversity, but create it, too – from conception to production and distribution.
Further key topics of ITFS 2021
With “Copines!”, in 2021 the ITFS will also focus on France as a partner country which has developed a diverse and successful animation scene, especially in the last thirty years. Selected filmmakers, studios and universities will present themselves and celebrate “la grande nation” of animated film at ITFS.
“Wonderwomen – Women in Games & Animation” takes up a relevant topic that was already examined 25 years ago at ITFS with a programme by curator Jayne Pilling, and thus enables a discourse on how the situation for women in animated film has changed since then, what new artistic positions have emerged and what role women play in the games industry. The curators are Waltraud Grausgruber, Gerben Schermer, Stephan Schwingeler and Judith Ackermann.