Stuttgart, April 24, 2023.

Tomorrow, the 27th edition of FMX – Film & Media Exchange will kick off. More than 300 speakers from the fields of animation, VFX, interactive and immersive media will share their experiences with the professional audience: From April 25 to 27 more than 160 presentations, discussions, workshops and masterclasses will be held live in Stuttgart, and additional talks will be presented on April 28 exclusively online. This offering will be complemented by video-on-demand content of over 120 sessions which will be made available after the conference until May 31, 2023. Freshly confirmed highlights include talks on Netflix productions SLUMBERLAND and STRANGER THINGS 4, Pixomondo’s Realtime Environments, and GHOSTED starring Ana de Armas and Chris Evans, released on Apple TV+ on April 21. They enrich the previously announced presentations on the four-time Oscar® winner ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT and Oscar® winner AVATAR, as well as presentations and panels on sustainability and artificial intelligence. In addition, several movie and series highlights are streamed on FMX’s online day, taking place April 28. With Unity now on board, the FMX Silver Partner line-up is now complete.

Sue Rowe talks about the creation of SLUMBERLAND

Scanline’s VFX Supervisor, Sue Rowe, will talk through some of the main sequences of Netflix’s SLUMBERLAND, including the inspirations used to bring the glass city to life alongside the FX and rendering challenges encountered as a garbage truck smashes through the glass. Rowe will also delve into animating Nemo’s beloved Pig toy and designing the ink patterns for the large underwater squid.

Pixomondo shares insights into realtime environments

Pixomondo has revolutionized the filmmaking process with their groundbreaking approach to constructing and filming lifelike virtual settings on LED volumes, powered by Unreal Engine. This pioneering method additionally transforms post-production into a realtime experience that unlocks never before seen possibilities. In this presentation, Nathan Larouche, VFX Supervisor, and Mark Dauth, Compositor, will dive into Pixomondo’s hard-earned lessons from their journey of developing and using realtime systems in production. The FMX audience is kindly invited to find out how to make the most out of these powerful tools with tried and tested best practices.

 Presentation on the epic season finale of STRANGER THINGS 4  

Jabbar Raisani, Overall VFX Supervisor and Emmy Award winner; Marion Spates, Additional VFX Supervisor at Flying High Frames; and Jan Burda, Compositing Supervisor at Accenture Song Content Germany GmbH, will share some exclusive insights into the VFX work that was created for the epic season finale of the Netflix show STRANGER THINGS 4.

Michael Wortmann illuminates VFX for GHOSTED  

In the freshly released Apple TV+ film GHOSTED with Ana de Armas and Chris Evans, the audience is literally taken to new heights. This presentation by Michael Wortmann, VFX Supervisor, RISE | Visual Effects Studios, will focus on the final showdown of the movie and how the visual effects work was completed in just a couple of months. FMX visitors can learn all about tracking continuity with pasta, how the RISE animators mastered the art of rotating restaurants and where they placed the easter eggs in the movie.

Exclusive FMX Online Day on April 28th

Attendees of the FMX Online Day, which takes place on April 28, can look forward to numerous exclusive insights, some of which are highlighted here. One of them includes Scott Gershin, Sound Supervisor at Keywords Studios, who will be focusing on the sound of this year’s Oscar® winner PINOCCHIO by Guillermo del Toro. In addition, two Marvel productions will be in focus: Jennifer Meire, VFX Supervisor, and Ben White, VFX Supervisor (both Cinesite) will tackle the VFX of BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER, and Hamilton Lewis, Senior Visualization Supervisor / Head of Creative at The Third Floor Inc., will look at the visualization and virtual production of the superhero film DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS. The online audience can also experience the creation of two series with talks on the VFX of the LORD OF THE RINGS adaptation THE RINGS OF POWER delivered by Catherine R. Dion, FX Artist at Rodeo FX, as well as the VFX of the HBO hit THE LAST OF US, which will be discussed by Melaina Mace, CG Supervisor, and Nick Marshall, DFX Supervisor (both DNEG). What’s more, Richard Frazer, VFX Supervisor at BlueBolt, will talk about the VFX for THE LAST KINGDOM: SEVEN KINGS MUST DIE, the film sequel to the popular historical series THE LAST KINGDOM, which was just released on Netflix on April 14. The VISUAL EFFECTS IN CREATING IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES will furthermore focus on bringing the immersive Disney dining experience to life. The talk will be brought to FMX audiences by both Walt Disney Imagineering – Bernice Howes, Executive Producer; Scott Sohan, Digital Supervisor; Bryan Thombs, Concept Designer & Digital Supervisor – and Framestore – Max MacEwan, Executive Producer; Eugenie von Tunzelmann, Head of VFX Attractions and Jason Fox, Creative Director.