17 Animation Projects Selected For Germany’s Animation Production Day
On the 3rd and 4th May in the Haus der Wirtschaft, the 17 animation projects which have been chosen for this year’s Animation Production Day will be presented in one-to-one meetings. Representatives of 47 participating companies will meet producers, world sales companies, broadcasters, banks and equity investors to discuss new financing channels, product strategies and possible options for exploitation, as well as the brand potential of their projects. Seven projects from Germany are among those selected, as well as projects from Great Britain, Spain, Columbia, Lithuania, Russia, Israel and Switzerland. This year, the projects under negotiation can boast a total production volume of over 65 million euros.
The industry is undergoing a period of radical change: At one end of the spectrum, a globalisation and monopolisation involving, above all, US media corporations, sees these building closed ranks in exclusive chains of distribution and exploitation. At the other, we observe the success of small, effective studios in establishing synergies between classic TV and film production and the new media of online/games. All this, together with a general tightening of budgets and a shift towards funding for Family Entertainment, has lead to a change in the face of the market. Smaller, independent producers acting in this difficult environment are forced to re-think their approach. The APD offers a platform where these innovative approaches and strategies can be discussed, and where participants can build new networks and deepen their knowledge of the market.
The combination of the Festival of Animated Film, the FMX and Animation Production Day, has established itself as one of the most important events in the animation industry’s calender worldwide. Since 2007, the APD has been able to bring together a total of 189 international players, presenting and negotiating projects with a total production volume of 360 million euros.
On its fifth anniversary the APD will, for the first time, feature a conference which bring together representatives of ARD, ZDF and KI.KA TV channels with German producers for an exchange of ideas and a discussion of current programming challenges. The “Conference on TV and production in Germany for children, youth and animation”, which takes place on 2nd May in Stuttgart’s Literaturhaus, is a joint event run by the APD and the German Producers’ Alliance. At the conference, the Alliance will present its current study on “TV and production for children, youth and animation”. This study will deliver, for the first time in years, authoritative figures on the situation on the German market. The conference will be opened by Helmut Rau, Minister of the State Ministry of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Animation Production Day is an event hosted by the 18th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film and the FMX 2011, the 16th Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Interactive Media and is organised by the Film- & Medienfestival gGmbH, the Institute of Animation, Visual Effects und Digital Postproduction at the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg in co-operation with Michael Schmetz Mediaconsult.