The 33rd Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film (ITFS), which takes place May 5-10, has announced the big highlights of this year’s program. The festival offers 150 events taking place at Stuttgart’s city center, with 150 filmmakers from around the world showcasing their latest work for audiences of all ages.
“The festival is, and will remain, a platform for artistic voices and social discourse. This also includes the free Open Air screenings as a key component. Here, we offer a low-threshold point of access to encounter art, culture and animation film — right on Königstraße,” said Annegret Richter, Artistic Director of Film- und Medienfestival gGmbH.
As always, the festival offers the chance to catch some of the best animated shorts, features and TV projects culled from around 2,000 submissions from around the world.
The animated features competing for the top prize this year are:
- Allah Is Not Obliged (directed by Zaven Najjar)
- Bouchra (directed by Meriem Bennani, Orian Barki)
- Light Pillar (directed by Zao Xu)
- Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (directed by Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han)
- My Life in Versailles (directed by Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat)
- A Story About Fire (directed by Li Wenyu)
The festival will be celebrating the centennial of Lotte Reiniger’s beloved classic The Adventures of Prince Achmed, which is widely regarded as one of the oldest surviving animated features in the history of cinema, which will be screened on May 8 with live musical accompaniment of Wolfgang Zeller’s scored performed by members of the SWR Symphony Orchestra. ITFS will also offer special programs and two exhibitions spotlighting silhouette animation.
ITFS 2026 will also feature top-notch animation visionaries sharing their experiences with the audiences. Among this year’s luminaries is longtime Illumination director and voice actor Pierre Coffin, who will discuss the language of the Minions and offer a first look at the much-anticipated summer release Minions & Monsters, prior to the film’s worldwide release on August 1.
Other highlights include a special preview of the ninth season of Adult Swim’s Emmy-winning series Rick and Morty, which is paired with the studio’s other grown-up favorites The Elephant, Smiling Friends and Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal.
French animation icon Michel Ocelot will be on hand to offer insights into his multi-faceted body of work, which include acclaimed features such as Kirikou and the Sorceress, Princes and Princesses, Azur & Asmar and Dilili in Paris.
Award-winning Dutch animation veteran Hisko Hulsing (Junkyard, Undone, Sandman, Danse Macabre) will also be the focus of a career highlight, in which he will discusses the making of some of his award-winning work and talk about his creative process and influences.
![Rick and Morty Season 9 [Adult Swim]](https://www.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Rick-and-Morty-S9-Still-4.jpg)
Claynosaurz and Heeboo co-founder Nic Cabana will also lead a session about the changing ways creators can manage their own IPs and how digital collectibles, community driven development and direct fan engagement can offer a great alternative to traditional media outlets.
Estonian animation director Ülo Pikkov (Frank and Wendy, Tik-Tak, Empty Space, Kehamalu) will talk about his most important films and how he uses yarn, paper, books, found objects in his animated projects.
At the Open Air on Schlossplatz, family-friendly feature films will be screened daily from Wednesday to Sunday from 4 p.m., including Steve Hudsons’ Stitch Head, Jorg Herrmann’s The Seventh Raven and Pixar’s Elio.
ITFS is also part of the Stuttgart Animated Week: together with the FMX – Film and Media Exchange conference and the Animation Production Days (APD), the three events form a week of inspiration, networking and animation. Stuttgart Animated Week will open on May 4 with a special keynote delivered by writer-director Reza Memari, whose new feature The Last Whale Singer is also spotlighted at the event.
This year marks the 20th edition of the Animation Production Days (APDs), the country’s leading co-pro and financing market for animation, organized by Film and Medienfestival gGmbH. A total of 178 participants from 27 countries are expected for this anniversary edition. Conference panels, roundtables and networking events will all be part of this exciting gathering of industry professionals.
You can find out more about this year’s packed program, including the film competition lineups, at itfs.de/en.
The ITFS 2026 trailer was created by students of the Animationsinstitut at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg:
