28. Februar 2020 Johannes Wolters

FMX Press Release #3 – Women in VFX and Animation | N.E.W.S. | Social Impact | FMX Trailer Mulm #2

For immediate publication

FMX 2020
Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Immersive Media
May 5-8, 2020, Stuttgart/Germany, Haus der Wirtschaft

Ludwigsburg/Germany, February 28, 2020. FMX 2020 will set a focus on women in VFX and animation – some of whom will be presented in this press release. The list of FMX 2020 speakers on the FMX website is getting longer and longer. Discounted early bird tickets for FMX 2020 are available until March 13, 2020 in the ticket shop. The official FMX 2020 App will be available for iOS and Android starting April 1, 2020.

Arrow Women in the VFX and Animation Community

More and more women set vital impulses in the digital creative industries. Read more about some of the women who contribute to making FMX such an outstanding event – and in some cases have been doing so for many years.

Jody Madden, Chief Executive Officer at Foundry, an FMX 2020 Main Partner, has been instrumental in leading the company’s growth since joining them in 2013. Prior to Foundry, Madden spent more than a decade in technology management and studio leadership roles at Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm, and Digital Domain after graduating from Stanford University.

„In this 25th anniversary year, FMX is more important than ever, as this is where education and industry intersect to inspire one another. I believe this connection is critical to continue solving the problems that will allow our next generation of artists bring incredible ideas to life, and ensure we can all realize our imagined tomorrows together.“

At FMX 2020, Shelley Page, Animation Talent Consultant at Locksmith Animation in London, will curate the N.E.W.S. track, which invites remarkable filmmakers and studio founders from India, South Africa, Europe and the USA to share their creative journeys and their collaborations with studios and producers located far from their country of origin. Shelley Page will also present many of her favourite short films from the last 20 editions of her Eye Candy Show as The Best of the Eye Candy Show.

„Nearly 20 years ago, FMX invited me to present my very first Eye Candy Show – which gave me the wonderful opportunity to showcase the amazing talent of some very recent European graduates. Since then, many of those same young filmmakers have gone on to build brilliant careers – as well as becoming much valued friends and colleagues. I hope and expect that, in the future, I will discover many more exceptional young artists, animators, directors, VFX artists, game designers, VR creators and others, and, if I am very fortunate, I will be lucky enough to work with them one day!“

Stefanie Larson, Cluster Manager of the Animation Media Cluster Region Stuttgart (AMCRS), will host a panel presenting the perspective of women in the industry. She will invite Matisse Gonzalez Jordán (Animator, Illustrator and Director, Gravedad, working closely with Studio Seufz), and Angela Steffen (Studio Film Bilder, Director and Animator, Patchwork Pals), who both graduated from Filmakademie’s Animationsinstitut, as well as Kate Forsdick (M.A.R.K. 13, Line Producer, Vic the Viking: The Magic Sword; Production Manager, Maya the Bee 2: The Honey Games), Claudia Marvisi (Pixomondo, Texture Lead and Texture Artist, Midway, The Mandalorian), and Julia Smola (VFX Producer/Scanline VFX, Charlie’s Angels, X-Men: Dark Phoenix). They will present their work, discuss what influences them, what they would wish for themselves and other women in the industry, and what the FMX theme Imagine Tomorrow means to them.

„We need to trust in the fact that an idea needs space but also time to unfold. Though we do have numerous technical possibilities which are available to us today and tomorrow, it is essential to not rush or even possibly replace such a significant process.“

Shoko Hara will give a talk in the track The Quest for Young Talent. She works as Freelance Motion Designer and Animation Director for commercials and music videos. At FMX 2020, she will present Just A Guy, an animated documentary short film about love. Three women share glimpses of their affection, attraction and relationship with Richard Ramirez, a serial killer and rapist they contacted after he was convicted in the 80s. Shoko studied Motion Design at Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg. Her diploma project, the animated short What They Believe has been awarded as Best Student Film at Animafest Zagreb 2016.

„Many people are scared of the future for political, economical and social reasons. Thus it is important to actively influence the future and make it better. This means being aware of the past and the present, even getting inspired by traditions. Combining these with your own vision is a key ability to develop something new and relevant. As an animation director, you have a huge chance to broaden society’s view and thus nurture new opinions and discussions. It is all about courage and communication.“

Arrow Social Impact

Women in Animation (WIA) will present a three-part program from their Women in Animation World Summit series, kicking off with a presentation on Inclusion and Belonging by Julie Ann Crommett (WIA Chair of Inclusion, and Vice President, Multi-Cultural Audience Engagement, The Walt Disney Studios), followed by Dr. Stacy Smith and Katherine Pieper of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative of University of Southern California unveiling of a new research study, and concluding with a state of the industry panel on diversity, inclusion and gender parity efforts featuring success stories from artists and executives from around the world, moderated by WIA Vice President Jinko Gotoh.

Arrow FMX 2020 Trailer Mulm

The FMX trailers are traditionally created by students of FMX organizer Animationsinstitut (Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg). For the 25th anniversary, the animated short Mulm has been the basis for the FMX trailer series. The second trailer gives further insights into what is keeping our obsessive physicist from his work – and although the whole situation is set in an alien world, it seems to be something quite commonplace for many of us…

Arrow FMX 2020 Forum: Epic Main Partner

Epic news can be announced – FMX is thrilled that Epic Games, the studio behind Unreal Engine, will be a Main Partner again! They will welcome the visitors to their Company Suite in Raum Heilbronn where they offer a virtual production demo lab.

Chaos Group, Dynamixyz, and KeenTools will have a booth on the Marketplace. Workshops will be offered by Notch, Chaos Group, and vrbn studios​​​​​​​. ​​​​​Further participants of the Recruiting Hub will be Union VFX, DNEG, Mikros Image, Axis Studios​​​​​​​, Rodeo FX, One Of Us, and Weta Digital.

The School Campus is already booked out. These are the newly confirmed participants: Hochschule Darmstadt – University of Applied Sciences, National Film and Television School, Anomalia, Hochschule der Medien​​​​​​​ Stuttgart, Mediadesign Hochschule – University of Applied Sciences (MD.H)​​​​​​​, Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, Film Academy Vienna​​​​​​​, Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Escape Studios, ArtFX – School of Digital Arts​​​​​​​, and mAHS, media Akademie – Hochschule Stuttgart.

Arrow 27th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film

In 2020, FMX Partner Event Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) will be celebrating its 27th edition. From May 5-10, 2020, Stuttgart will turn into a center of the world of animation again. At ITFS, up to 100,000 visitors will marvel at the best animated films from around the world. The 6,000 industry professionals expected to attend ITFS, FMX and Animation Production Days (APD) include producers, curators, purchasers, sales agents, representatives of TV channels and the media as well as filmmakers. The first program highlights include the focus topics Copines! Focus on France and Wonder Women – Women in Games & Animation. More information | ITFS Early Bird available until March 12, 2020

Combi Tickets (valid for all days of FMX 2020 (May 5-8) and ITFS 2020 (May 5-10)) can be purchased in the FMX ticket shop, the Early Bird rate is available until March 13, 2020.

FMX 2020 Early Bird Tickets are available on the website www.fmx.de until March 13, 2020.

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