Press release, Stuttgart, 5 April 2023
The Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) will celebrate its 30th edition this year from 25 to 30 April 2023, inviting families and culture enthusiasts from Stuttgart and the region as well as international filmmakers, young talents and professionals. For six days, the centre of Stuttgart will be the hub of animated film, with the Schlossplatz inviting everyone to a big get-together and the cinemas in the city centre filled with fans and creators of animation.
New cooperation: 100 years of Disney at the ITFS
But not only the ITFS is celebrating an anniversary – The Walt Disney Company with the world-famous animation studio Disney Animation is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. With short film programmes (Disney+ Cult Night), Film Talks and current animated feature films at the Open-Air Cinema. As a highlight, Disney Legend and character animator Andreas Deja will come to Stuttgart and give an illustrated overview of his 30-year career at Disney as one of the greatest animators in the company’s 100-year history. In the Masterclass “Character Animation” (Saturday, 29 April, Cinema, 1 p.m.) Deja will give background information on the development of famous characters such as Jafar (“Aladdin”), Scar (“The Lion King”) and King Triton (“The Little Mermaid”). In a Film Talk (Thursday 27 April, Gloria 2, 12:30 p.m.), Disney EMEA Creative Directors Shamik Majumdar and Orion Ross will provide exclusive insights into the ten-part Disney+ anthology series “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire”, which looks at the future from a uniquely African perspective, created by directors from across the continent and in collaboration with African (including Triggerfish) and global studios.
European premiere of Andreas Deja’s “Mushka”
Andreas Deja will not only take a look back, but will also bring his short film “Mushka” to celebrate its European premiere at the ITFS. After the screening, the audience can take a backstage look at the film’s production (Saturday, 29 April, Cinema, 3:30 pm).
The Honorary Trickstar goes to…
She is one of the most important women in the animation industry: The 2023 Honorary Trickstar of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film goes to Latvian animation artist Signe Baumane. She creates animations from a female perspective, and in her later development often from a personal, autobiographical, painfully honest and provocative point of view, and she says: “In animation, you can just walk into a person’s mind and you can show everything going on in there. In animation you’re free to do anything you want.”
Signe Baumane studied philosophy in Moscow, then worked for an animation studio in Riga and moved to New York City in 1996, where she first worked for independent director Bill Plympton while continuing to make her own films. In 1998 she founded her own studio and with irrepressible energy, perseverance and creativity tackled the realisation of her feature-length films over many years. In a short film programme, the ITFS will present primarily her early films, including: “The Witch and the Cow”, (Latvia, USA, 1991), “The Tiny Shoes” (Latvia, USA; 1993), “Gold of the Tigers” (Latvia, 1995), and “Love Story” (Latvia, USA, 1998). As a special highlight, ITFS will show her two feature-length films, the multi-award winning “My Love Affair with Marriage” (Latvia, Luxembourg, USA, 2022) on 27 April at 8 pm at Cinema and “Rocks in my Pockets” (Latvia, 2014) on 28 April, 8:15 pm at the Open-Air. The Honorary Trickstar award will be presented personally to Signe Baumane at the Trickstar Professional Awards ceremony on 26 April.
Stuttgart welcomes the world of animation
More than 70 high-profile filmmakers from the competition programmes alone will attend the festival to present their films and answer questions in Film Talks. Directors will be present at the feature film premieres, such as Tahir Rana at the German premiere of “Charlotte” (Eric Warin, Tahir Rana, Canada 2022), director Kajsa Naess at the German premiere of “Titina” (Kajsa Næss, Norway 2022), and director Rasmus A. Sivertsen will be attending the German premiere of “Three Robbers and a Lion” (Rasmus A. Sivertsen, Norway 2021). Arnaud Demuynck will be present for the screening of “Yuku and the Himalayan Flower” (Arnaud Demuynck, Rémi Durin, Belgium, France 2022) in Stuttgart. For the supporting programmes and juries, the ITFS invites a further 100 animation artists to be on location and network with professionals and audiences.
A delegation of 18 dynamic, innovative creatives with different skills and backgrounds are also invited to actively participate in the festival’s Country Focus South Africa – supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Open Air at the Schlossplatz – A must go with free admission
Against the unique backdrop of Stuttgart’s city centre, the Festival Garden with its Open-Air Cinema gives the ITFS an incomparable atmosphere with lots of animation and a wide-ranging entertainment programme! All around, the Festival Garden offers a gastronomic range for small and large appetites. From Wednesday to Sunday (from noon to 10.30 p.m.), the large LED screen will be showing captivating animated short and feature-length films to amuse and amaze audiences. New this year are themed short film programmes for the whole family in the afternoon and for adults from 6:30 pm. As usual, current animation blockbusters and arthouse gems at 8:15 pm provide each festival day with a finale full of atmosphere. In cooperation with various partners and supporters of the festival, the ITFS offers an exciting daily programme of workshops and activities. Feature-length film highlights for the whole family (Wednesday to Saturday at 3 p.m.).
Audiences can look forward to three Disney blockbusters, including the animated science fiction adventure “Lightyear” (Angus MacLane, USA 2022), the heartwarming classic “Soul” (Pete Docter, USA, 2020) and the adventure film “Strange World” (Don Hall, Qui Nguyen, USA 2022).
In the evenings, the ITFS will show the following arthouse films on the LED wall: “Persepolis” (Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi, France 2007), “Rocks in my Pockets” (Signe Baumane, USA, Latvia 2014) and “The Congress” (Ari Folman, Israel, France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Luxembourg 2013).
Sunday morning is once again dedicated to a very special cooperation: ITFS will show the family opera “Räuber Hotzenplotz” on the big screen free of charge. Composer Sebastian Schwab has recomposed Otfried Preußler’s enchanting story as a singspiel for the ensemble of the Stuttgart State Opera, just in time for Preußler’s 100th birthday.
A registration form for press accreditation is available at https://www.itfs.de/presse/akkreditierung/
Contact Press and Public Relations: presse@festival-gmbh.de
Katrin Dietrich, dietrich@festival-gmbh.de, +49 (0) 711-925 46-102