🎬 SOUND DESIGN:

The Craft of Sound: Innovation and Workflows at Walt Disney Animation Studios
Join for a presentation on how innovations in sound, music and mixing workflows support storytelling at Walt Disney Animation Studios. The session will also cover worldwide deliveries, language versioning workflows, unique mixing challenges and solutions, and the film sound evolution process from temp to final mix through select sequences from the studio's most recent feature films, "Vaiana 2" and "Zoomania 2".

📌 11:15 | König-Karl-Halle 💬 Adam Sarophim

🎬 FEATURE ANIMATION:
"KPop Demon Hunters" & "GOAT": Animating Performances

This presentation explores how Sony Pictures Imageworks brings animated characters to life through performance-driven animation. Focusing on "KPop Demon Hunters" and "GOAT", it highlights how animators craft emotion, personality, and audience connection through movement, timing, and subtle detail.

📌 11:15 | Turm Aalen 💬 Heiko Burkardsmaier

🎬 INDUSTRY EXCHANGE:
Is VFX a sustainable Business Model ?

What is the State of the VFX Indutry, what are the main challenges in running a VFX business? Why is it so hard? Personal insights, conclusions and strategies from a veteran VFX Executive to run a sustainable VFX business unit.

📌 12:30 | Bertha-Benz-Saal 💬 Ian Failes & Hugo Guerra

🎬 THEN & NOW:

VFX Notes Podcast Live! What’s the best VFX shot in history?
Join the hosts of VFX Notes—Hugo Guerra and Ian Failes—for a special live and interactive VFX Notes podcast recording at FMX, where we will debate the greatest VFX shot in history. Be part of the audience to weigh in on the debate as we break down the greatest visual effects shots to ever be made, and come up with the ultimate winner. Audience members will also be in the running for special prizes.

📌 12:30 | Turm Aalen 💬 Panel Discussion

🎬 INDUSTRY EXCHANGE:
Global VFX Leadership Industry Perspectives

The VFX industry is an ever-evolving industry shaped by technological advancements and economic factors. It’s also shaped by a somewhat unique business model and client relationships. This panel brings together VFX leaders to discuss the unique opportunities and challenges within their regions, including Kaitlyn Beattie (Executive VFX Producer, Vine FX), Christina Caspers (Executive Producer Cinesite Group & General Manager Trixter, TRIXTER GmbH), Hayley Miller (Founder, World VFX Day), Lorna Reaoch (Producer, Halon Entertainment), and Elena Topouzoglou (VFX Producer & Partner, Stardust Effects).

📌 14:30 | Bertha-Benz-Saal 💬 Alex Coulombe & David Gochfeld

🎬 SPATIAL STORYTELLING:

Ghosts of Performances Past: Five Years of "A Christmas Carol VR"
How do you build XR production pipelines that support one-of-a-kind experiences without starting from scratch each time? In this session, Alex Coulombe (Agile Lens) and Emmy-winning XR creator David Gochfeld explore how repeated live production can drive new approaches to XR creation, combining theatre and stagecraft with real-time pipelines to create work that is responsive, repeatable, and artist-driven. Alex and DAvid will trace the evolution of "A Christmas Carol VR" — an annual live XR production that, over five years, became a vital R&D sandbox for scalable spatial storytelling.

📌 17:00 | König-Karl-Halle 💬 Eric Saindon, Sam Cole &
Alexey Stomakhin

🎬VFX FOR FEATURES:
"Avatar: Fire and Ash" | Taking Pandora to the Next Level

Eric Saindon (Senior VFX Supervisor), Sam Cole (Sequence VFX Supervisor), and Alexey Stomakhin (Principal Research Engineer) will overview the process of creating Wētā FX’s Oscar, BAFTA and VES winning 3,100+ shots from "Avatar: Fire and Ash". They will reveal how the team blended extensive native stereo photography with CG environments, fully digital performance-captured characters, and physics based coupled effects simulations using new and existing in-house tool sets. Everything was ultimately handcrafted - every character, tree, leaf, pore, sweat drop and insect – to ensure Pandora is a believable world.

📌 17:00 | Raum Reutlingen 💬 Arne Hain, Sebastian Simon &
Mark Taynton

🎬 FRESH VISIONS:

Adult Animation in Germany
Adult animation is booming globally — but in Germany, it still struggles against the perception that animation is only for children. Director Arne Hain and producer Sebastian Simon will share an honest behind-the-scenes look. The talk covers navigating funding structures, and defining a tone that feels culturally European rather than derivative of US models. Beyond the creative side, the session dives into production realities: building a flexible pipeline with a small team, making stylistic choices under tight budgets, and balancing experimentation with broadcaster expectations.

📌 18:15 | Turm Aalen 💬 Panel Discussion

🎬 VISIONS OF CHANGE:

Visions of Change Panel
An in depth conversation between 4 studio leaders on how they think about the future of the animation industry: Ilija Brunck (CEO, Woodblock), Nicholas Cabana (Co-Founder, Claynosaurz), Fabian Driehorst (Co-Founder, CEO, Fabian&Fred), and Katharina Weser (Co-Founder, CEO, Reynard Films & Yaga Studio).

 
📌 18:15 | König-Karl-Halle 💬 Closing Panel

🎬 THE ROAD AHEAD:
We're Still Here

Every generation of filmmakers has stood at a crossroads and been told the same thing: everything is about to change. And every time, they found ways to adapt and carry the art and craft forward. This closing session brings together a hand-picked group of creative leaders who have each lived through their own turning point and kept creating anyway. The disruption is real and so is the opportunity. The road does not end here. It is an invitation. With Kevin Baillie (VFX Supervisor, 2nd Unit Director, Electric Sheep Productions), Christina Caspers (Executive Producer Cinesite Group, & General Manager, TRIXTER GmbH), Mohsen Mousavi (Head of Visual Pioneering, Eyeline), Paolo Tamburrino (Sr. Industry Strategy Manager, M&E, Autodesk), and Noelle Triaureau (Production Designer, Skydance Animation).