The 29th International Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart (ITFS) starts tomorrow, May 3, bringing together animation enthusiasts from all over the world for a week in the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, until May 8. As of today, May 2, animation fans, film lovers and professionals can already experience the films of the competition International Competition, Young Animation, Tricks for Kids and Trickstar Nature as well as the film programmes “Ukraine Benefit“, “Animation around Europe” and the Tricks for Kids school programme with selected films for school classes at OnlineFestival.ITFS.de in the Online+ Media Library. In the free GameZone area, the nominees of the Animated Games Award Germany and the Local Heroes – Kokolores & Friends will be presented.
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!