The 2022 edition of the Stuttgart Intl. Festival of Animated Film has announced an eclectic collection of animated programs, exhibits, master classes, guest speakers and VR events for its hybrid edition, which will take place May 3-8.
In addition to the usual Intl. Competition, Young Animation, Tricks for Kids, the festival will offer the Trickstar Nature Award for the best animated short focusing on climate protection, biodiversity, the environment and sustainability and the Trickstar Business Award for the best innovative and ground-breaking business model for a project or company in the animation sector, the Animated Games Award Germany the best and most innovative animation-based computer game from Germany, and the German Animation Screenplay Award the best German screenplay for a feature-length animated film. All competition programs can be viewed both on-site at Innenstadtkinos and online. In the animation competition Crazy Horse Session – 48 H Animation Jam, international teams face the challenge of creating an animated film involving Festival mascot Trixi in 48 hours.
ITFS 2022 will have a special focus on Austria, which is known for experimentation, innovation, and dark humor. Selected artists, studios and institutes of higher education will present their work. Austrian partner festivals are Tricky Women/Tricky Realities and Ars Electronica. In the themed series Wonderwomen – Women in Games & Animation, curated by Waltraud Grausgruber– ITFS continues the program introduced in 1996 and curated by Jayne Pilling, which sheds light on how the situation for women in animated film has changed since then and which new artistic positions have emerged.
The event’s special In Persona series will feature internationally renowned animators sharing their insights into their work and their methods. Scheduled guests include Daniel Höpfner, Jochen Kuhn, Regina Pessoa (Porto), Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo and Thomas Renoldner. Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park, Uri Kranot (Nothing Happens, Hollow Land), film producer Ron Diamond (Los Angeles) and Jürgen Hagler, professor at the Hagenberg University of Applied Sciences and curator at Ars Electronica are among the other confirmed guests.
The festival will also present a special series titled “Black Is Black!” which showcases some of the most extraordinary animated films of the last 25 years, which captivate with their black-and-white aesthetics, reduction, and minimalism, as well as their exceptional narrative forms – curated by the artistic managing director of ITFS, Ulrich Wegenast.
Tickets are now available at the Early Bird rate at https://www.itfs.de/en/
