20th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film Starts April 23rd

20th edition of the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film

Stuttgart – Heaven on earth for all fans of animated films! The Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) is the biggest and one of the most important festivals for animated film worldwide. And from April 23 to April 28, 2013 it opens again the doors to the worlds of animation. Around 1,000 of the best international animated films will be shown in Stuttgart representing the whole spectrum of the genre. The Simpons, Shaun the sheep, Maya the bee or the Mainzelmaennchen – all animated heroes and cartoon characters are going to be around to celebrate the big animation jubilee together with professional visitors and fans. 2013 the ITFS gained the all-time record of over 2.200 film submissions for the nine festival competitions! The competition and supporting programmes show the newest films from all over the world, for example from Germany, France, Malawi, Australia, China, Japan, Canada, Latvia, and many more, being nominated for the Oscar like Timothy Reckart’s „Head over Heels“ and David Silverman’s „Maggie Simpson – The longest Daycare“ or for the César like „Oh Willy ...“ by Emma de Swaef/Marc Roels and „Edmond était un âne“ by Franck Dion. Animation artists like Atsushi Wada (Berlinale Silver Bear 2012) and Jakob Schuh („The Gruffalo“), David Silverman („The Simpsons“), Ron Diamond, member of the Academy Awards, or Barry Purves, one of the most prominent authorities of puppet animation, will be presented and are expected to come. Selected national and international film and art schools will be presented as well as animation studios such as Constantin Film, Pixar

or Aardman Animation. The children’s festival Tricks for Kids in the Mercedes-Benz Museum presents the best and most recent films and series for children and families. Simultaneously with the festival the FMX – Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Transmedia (April 23 to 26) and the Animation Production Day (April 25/26) will take place again. With its enthusiastic audience, unique locations and numerous national and international guests (2012: 80.000), the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film is a fixture in the animation film scene.

Special anniversary highlights have to be part of the 20th edition, too: Twenty important pioneers of the ITFS will give a personal retrospective by presenting twenty films of previous festivals which they have selected on their own. The Mainzelmaennchen, some of Germany’s most popular cartoon characters are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2013 and are going to have their official jubilee gala at the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film. The ITFS will depict worldwide developments in animated film with several programmes: e. g. the host country India, Animated Africa

or the Arabic world of animated film and media.

For more information please visit our website: www.itfs.de/en ITFS-Trailer www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOOljk_LOcs www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJJ2c0FFt9Y *************************

Press contact:

Nora Hieronymus, Press & Public Relations Film- und Medienfestival gGmbH Stephanstr. 33, 70173 Stuttgart, Germany Phone: +49 (0) 711 92 546 102 E-mail: hieronymus(at)festival-gmbh.de

The Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (ITFS), April 23 – 28, 2013, was founded in 1982 and is the largest and one of the most important festivals for animated film worldwide. Prize money of 65,000 Euros is awarded in nine competition categories. The Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film works in close co-operation with the FMX, Europe’s biggest Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Transmedia, attracting industry professionals. Together with the FMX the ITFS holds the business platform Animation Production Day.

Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.