In a few days Stuttgart will be the global capital of animated film again. From April 22 to 27, 2014 the best animated films from all over the world can be seen at the 21st edition of the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (ITFS) – one of the biggest and most important international festivals for animated film. In more than 200 individual events,out of 2,300 entries, over 1,000 animated films represent the entire spectrum of the genre.

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There are numerous innovations in the competitions as well as in the supporting programme. Thus, the German Voice Actor Award is presented for the first time in the special event "Animation & Comedy" in Renitenztheater. "We are very happy that the nominees Anna Thalbach, Ilja Richter and Josefine Preuß will each perform their own program point on stage, including, for example, a live synchronization," stated Prof. Ulrich Wegenast, managing director programme of the ITFS. Posthumously the exceptional humorist Loriot will also be a guest: in a world premiere one of the most important German animator, Hayo Freitag (Werner 1 and 4, Captain Bluebeard etc.), presents the Loriot Animatic "The Egg", in which the master of humor was still creatively involved.

"Let's Play!" is the slogan of the Game Zone at the ITFS 2014 - the Schlossplatz in Stuttgart becomes a playground! Games stations offer visitors of all ages the opportunity to try out various games of the mainstream and indie sector and to compete in competitions against each other. "The ITFS expands its play area on the Schlossplatz – due to the the Game Zone the Planie-Allee is integrated into the festival events for the first time" says Dittmar Lumpp, managing director organisation and finances of the ITFS. Other venues, such as the youth center Jugendhaus Mitte and the city library, offer presentations and lectures by games experts and representatives of large and small game companies as well as workshops and the competition "Game Storm's Battle of the Bands".

As an important industry event, the presentation of the German Screenplay Award will be expanded. Under the motto "Stories and Series in the Castle" it will be awarded together with the prize Tricks for Kids - Series for the first time in the White Hall of the Neues Schloss in Stuttgart. In addition, the L-Bank could be won as location for industry platform Animation Production Day.

The successful collaboration with the Mercedes-Benz Museum (Animated Com Award, Easter holiday programmeof the children's film festival section Tricks for Kids) and U. I. Lapp GmbH (Animated Com Award and India Music & Animation) continues.

The newly established TELE 5 Special price “Leider geil!” will award one short film at the ITFS that breaks out of the usual categories, one that surprises and convinces. The prize is endowed with 5,000 Euros. The winner will be chosen from the categories: International Competition, Young Animation, Cartoons for Teens for Teens and Animated Com Award. (Nominated Films)

In the feature film competition AniMovie the ITFS shows numerous German premieres, including "The magic House" by Ben Stassen, "Lisa Limone and Maroc Orange a rapid Love Story" by Mait Laas, "Giovanni’s Island" by Mizuho Nishikubo or "Cheatin'" by Bill Plympton.

High-profile animation experts and artists could be won for the juries, including Fadi Abdelnour (Head of the Arab Film Festival Berlin), Mariola Brillowska (enfant terrible of the animated film), the experimental British animator Paul Bush, the two Israelis Tsvika Oren and Uri Kranot (Oscar nominated) the Danish animation icon Jannik Hastrup, the film producer Peter Rommel ("Wetlands", "Summer in Berlin"), Max Howard (as a former president of Warner Bros. feature Animation and vice president of Walt Disney Animation crucially involved in films like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit "and "The Lion King") and many more.

The role of competition curators has been significantly expanded. Iris Loos has been involved for several years in the Section Tricks for Kids. A new addition to the Animated Com Award is the animator and illustrator Kathi Kaeppel, and GameZone curator is Sabiha Ghellal, assistant professor for Experience and Interaction Design in the degree course “mobile media” at the Stuttgart Media University.

In the focus of this year's festival programme are host country Israel (in cooperation with the Israeli Consulate General in Munich), animation in World War I (with contemporary animated film rarities as well as resent cinematic confrontations), Abstract Animation (with the curator Vibeke Sørensen), Music & Animation ("Music for your Eyes" with Luca Ciarla and video artist Keziat as well as "Hattler vs. Hattler" with the legendary bassist Hellmut Hattler and his son, the media artist Max Hattler, in the music hall of Ludwigsburg). At the free open-air on the Schlossplatz highlights such as "Waltz with Bashir", this year's Oscar winner "Frozen", "Wolf Children", "Monsters University" and "Epic" can be seen.

"With the program of the ITFS 2014 we managed to portray the wonderful theme of animated film in all its facets. With its 21st edition, the Festival of Animated Film has now grown up," the two managers Lumpp and Wegenast agree.