50 projects from 19 countries selected for Animation Production Days 2020
Skwigly
50 projects from 19 different countries have been selected for the 14th edition of Animation Production Days (APD) in Stuttgart. On 7 and 8 May, producers will negotiate possibilities of co-producing and financing these projects in pre-planned one-to-one meetings in Stuttgart’s L-Bank. A total of 80 projects in various formats were submitted. APD is the most important business platform for animation in Germany and takes place as part of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film and FMX – Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Immersive Media. Around a third of the projects presented at APD in previous years have now been successfully produced.
Animation Production Days (APD) is a joint venture of the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) and FMX – Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Immersive Media. All three events take place concurrently in Stuttgart. The joint organisers of APD are Film- und Medienfestival gGmbH and Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Its funding partners are the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts Baden-Württemberg, the Creative Europe MEDIA programme of the EU, the Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA) and MFG Baden-Württemberg.
A notably large number of submitted projects deal with environmental and climate issues, often in dystopian scenarios; gender-related and historico-political topics are also well-represented and clearly reflect current public discourse. And there is plenty of action, comedy and fantasy material. From stop-motion animation to hand-drawn 2D, from 3D, CGI and hybrid projects to anima-doc formats, all animation techniques and genres will be present at APD 2020. Around 60 percent of the selected projects are being developed for children between 6 and 12 years of age, 20 percent for preschool children and a further 20 percent for teenagers and adults. Of the 50 selected projects, 18 are from Germany. Danish companies are once again strongly represented with a total of seven projects, followed by France and Belgium. The combined production value of the selected projects is around 170 million Euros.
Nutz (Denis Alenti / Vjekoslav Zivkovic, Recircle, 2020)
Thirty projects alone were submitted for the highly popular APD Talent Programme, of which ten were chosen to participate. This year, APD is awarding 16 free accreditations to outstanding young talents. APD gives them the opportunity to discuss their ideas with experienced industry experts, establish contacts and find cooperation partners for their projects. This year, the project “Tales of Zale” by Sif Savery from Denmark has qualified for the APD Talent Programme via the ongoing cooperation with the European training programme, Animation Sans Frontières.
Registration for the Investor Programme open until 6 March 2020
Programme buyers, investors and potential co-producers can find exciting new projects at APD, meet up-and-coming talents and give producers feedback on the requirements of the various markets across Europe. Numerous national and international broadcasters and distributors will be attending. Blue Zoo Rights, Canal+, Cloudco Entertainment, Entertainment One, Ferly, France Télévisions, Hopster, Jetpack Distribution, Kidjo, Kids First, Koch Films, LevelK ApS, MFA+ FilmDistribution, Motion Pictures Entertainment, Netflix, Newen Distribution, Nickelodeon International, Pink Parrot Media, Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI), SilkWayFilms, Sola Media, Sony Pictures Television, Studio 100, Studio Hamburg Enterprises, Südwestrundfunk (SWR/ARD), Superights Invest, RTL Disney Fernsehen / SUPER RTL, The Walt Disney Company, Tokyopop, WarnerMedia, WildBrain, Wild Bunch, the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) and Zodiak Kids have already confirmed their participation. National and international funding bodies will also attend. The deadline for registrations by investors and financiers is 6 March 2020.
Applications to the Trickstar Businesss Award open until 15 March
All projects selected for APD are invited to apply for the Trickstar Business Award. The 7,500 Euro prize is being awarded in 2020 for the fourth time by the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS). Companies with innovative business models can also compete for the award even if they are not participating in APD. The application deadline has been extended to 15 March 2020. The application form and the rules and regulations can be found on the ITFS website.
An overview of all the selected projects can be found on the APD website