fmx/06, the 11th International Conference on Animation, Effects, Realtime and Content, will take place May 3-6, in Stuttgart, Germany.
Topics include the latest animated movies and vfx features, the convergence of games and movies, new fields of work for animators, the latest use of realtime graphics and current trends from the Far East. There is also new cooperation with the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, with overlapping programs, in addition to the festival award ceremony coinciding with the opening of fmx/06 on the evening of May 2.
At fmx/essentials, the Virtual Humans Forum will take place for the first time. Moderated by Chistophe Hery (ILM) experts such as Paul Ekman, Mark Sagar (Weta Digital), Paul Debevec (USC) and George Borshukov (Electronic Arts) will discuss artificial intelligence, autonomous behavior, robotics, avatars, skin rendering and the psychological bases for facial animation. Further highlights: The Weta Experience with Matt Aitken and the Sony Pictures Imageworks Special with Jenny Fulle (evp of production/exec producer) and vfx supervisors Troy Saliba and Doug Ikeler providing glimpses of MONSTER HOUSE and OPEN SEASON, respectively.
fmx/talks offers a variety of subjects. Speaking about visual effects are Jeff Kleiser of Kleiser Walczak and Bill Westenhofer of Rhythm & Hues and vfx supervisor for THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, as well as representatives from The Orphanage (Ryan Tudhope), Digital Domain (Matthias Wittmann and Kelly Port), Double Negative (Graham Jack), Worldwide FX (Scott Coulter) and Scanline (Danielle Plantec).
In animation, there will be lectures from such companies as Aardman (David Sproxton, DreamWorks (Christian Schellewald) and Pixar. (Patrick James). There will be a lecture about Look and Lighting for CHICKEN LITTLE with Disney's Ian Gooding, art director, and Kyle Odermatt, CG supervisor. Terrence Masson (CAF chair Siggraph 2006) speaks about "Computer Animation Festival Success."
Games discussions will be held between companies such as Electronic Arts, LucasArts, Sony Ent. and Streamline. Jordan Mechner (PRINCE OF PERSIA) is a keynote speaker as well as Lee Sheldon, author of CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND STORYTELLING FOR GAMES. In Animated Commercials, Marv Newland from International Rocketship Ltd. will present animated commercials from the 60s and 70s. There is also a series with European Producers, a TV Buyers panel with Central China TV, mobile entertainment as well as lectures about digital cinema. At the Focus on Asia Special, there will be talks from Indian and Chinese companies as well as a presentation about the state of animation in Southeast Asia.
In fmx/technologies representatives will include Jim Guerard (Adobe Systems), Molly Connolly (Hewlett Packard) and Georges Dolbier (IBM) discussing their visions of the future. Other topics at fmx/technologies include Digital Cinema and Visualization in Science and Industry along with lectures about stereoscopic film from two pioneers of stereoscopic computer animation, Kleiser and Jerzy Kular, as well as Matt Cowan from RealD and Loren Nielsen.
After the huge success of fmx/talents last year, fmx/06 is again offering a Recruiting Event for specialists in German and international animation, postproduction and game companies with European Talents and Eyes & Ears Junior Showcase. There will be recruiting sessions hosted by Shelley Page of DreamWorks, Dawn Rivera-Ernster of Disney, Animation World Network co-founder/publisher Dan Sarto, VFXWorld contributor Peter Plantec and AWN contributor Pam Thompson. In Schools, European film and animation schools present their work.
In co-operation with the Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, the first screenings and programs from selected film and art schools will take place the day before fmx/06 officially begins. The Festival Award ceremony on May 2 will also be the opening reception for fmx/06, with Minister Willi Stachele and Doug Cooper from DreamWorks Animation as the keynote speaker.
Reduced Price for Tickets only until April 10. Visitors can buy on-line tickets at a reduced price until April 10. After this date, tickets can be reserved online at normal prices and be paid for at the conference. At the conference, a day ticket costs 95 Euros, a four-day ticket 185 Euros.
Organized by the Institute of Animation, Filmakademie Baden Wuerttemberg, fmx/06 (www.fmx.de) is a non-profit event, funded by the Staatsministerium Baden-Wuerttemberg, MFG Medien-und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Wuerttemberg and FFA Filmfoerderungsanstalt, and supported by many partners from the industry. For fmx/06, the Institute of Animation is cooperating, for the first time, with the French company NX Publishing, which was previously responsible for the program and organization of Imagina. fmx is also supported by DIGITAL PRODUCTION, Eyes & Ears of Europe, sagasnet, flashconference and other media partners.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
