FMX 2025 Conference-Rhythm of Change 

25 Years of Chasing the Light – In his keynote, FMX 2025 Program Chair Paul Debevec will trace the evolution of the light stage and explore where this technology might lead next.

There will be a number of panels with select industry experts, a lot of them touching on the impact of AI:

The Artificial Elephant in the Room: VFX, AI, and the New Industry Reality is a dive into AI-powered tools, cloud-based pipelines, and strategies to turn disruption into opportunity.

Global Perspectives on the Visual Effects Industry – Leading VFX professionals from different countries discuss the unique opportunities and challenges within their local industries.

State of the Industry Panel Discussion – This session aims to offer a wide range of perspectives to help artists better understand the current state of the industry and what the future might hold.

The Secrets of Award-Winning Teams is about pulling back the curtain on the strategies, workflows, and mindsets that lead to extraordinary visual storytelling.

Embracing Evolution in VFX – Skill Development and Collaborative Innovation – The necessity of upskilling, the importance of thinking outside the box and expanding the perspectives are topics on this panel.

AI and its Impact on Creatives will explore the situation of supervisors, producers and artists as well as students.

Find more of here:

https://fmx.de/en/program/program-2025/schedule

Panelists include:

Ellenor Argyropoulos (Mermaid Toast), Bejoy Arputhara (PhantomFX), Jörg Bachmaier (Studio Babelsberg), Kevin Baillie (Eyeline Studios), Joseph Bell (HDRI Consulting), Christian Bohm (FX TD), Christina Caspers-Roemer (TRIXTER), Andy Cochrane (The AV Club Productions), Kim Davidson (SideFX/VES), Chris Edwards (The Third Floor), Laurens Ehrmann (The Yard VFX), Jim Geduldick (Spaceboy Labs), Carolyn Giardina (Variety), Johnny Han (HBO), Danielle Immerman (Wētā FX), Heike Kluger (VFX Supervisor), Markus Kranzler (Pixar), Hayley Miller (World VFX Day), Kamal Mistry (Autodesk), Jo Plaete (Metaphysic.ai), Javier Menéndez Platas (PFX), Robin Saxen (VFX Producer), Rajesh Sharma (ETH Zurich), Sebastian Sylwan (Technology Executive), Paolo Tamburrino (Autodesk), Esther Trilsch (SideFX), Lincoln Wallen (Framestore) and Nancy Ward (VES).

The fantastic steampunk series “Arcane” is visually intriguing – FMX will reveal how. © Netflix

The Art of Animation

The (Hex) Tech of “Arcane” Season 2 – Fortiche’s CTO, Philippe Llerena, and Matte Painting Supervisor, Martin Bailly, reveal the technical and artistic leaps of the season. Llerena details the scaled-up production, while Bailly showcases how they amplified Arcane’s painterly environments, maintaining the handcrafted feel amidst greater 3D complexity.

Concept Art Toolbox – When you’re stuck and need to move forward. How to think the image process. That’s what Concept Artist Daniel Cacouault (DreamWorks Animation, “The Wild Robot”) will talk about in his presentation.

Raw & Relevant – „Human intention must drive the use of artificial intelligence in making art“, states Jan Pinkava, Director of Animationsinstitut and Conference Chair of FMX. Filmakademie´s Animationsinstitut is driven by this premise, and the seeds start to blossom & bloom. In this year’s edition of FMX we will present case studies of Animationsinstitut´s filmmakers that use the tools of artificial intelligence to reach their artistic goals. Don’t miss it!

And here is another very special treat for lovers of animated films:

The 23rd Annual Animation Show of Shows – Ron Diamond brings 14 award-winning films by some of the most acclaimed directors in the world of animation to FMX: 11 rarely screened classic masterpieces from Michaël Dudok de Wit’s poignant Oscar-winning Father and Daughter, to a hidden gem by the “King of Indie Animation,” Bill Plympton, to three all-new shorts from Croatia, Switzerland, and the U.S. – an incredible retrospective as well as a peek at a new generation of filmmakers.

A glance into the setup of “Goldberg’s Dream” © Supervolt/NICE creative/DELTA Soundworks

Expanding Realities

GOLDBERGS DREAM: From Plato’s Cave to an Immersive Concert Experience – Goldberg’s Dream is an extended reality concert that reimagines Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” through AI, spatial audio, robotics, and projection mapping—pushing the boundaries of classical performance. XR director Jana Günther (Supervolt), animation director Moritz Mayerhofer (NICE creative) and Spatial Audio Engineer Daniel Deboy (DELTA Soundworks) will present the key creative and technical processes. They will explore the challenges and innovations behind the project—including advancements in robotics and spatial audio, as well as the creation of 82 minutes of computer-generated animation.

How animation is shaping the future of immersive live entertainment – With immersive venues being built around the world and audiences hungry for collective real live experiences, the live entertainment scene has developed an increased hunger for animated content to enhance performances around the world. In his talk, Ilija Brunck (Woodblock) explores high impact performances, technical challenges and future possibilities for the use of animation in the field of immersive live entertainment.

Platinum Partner: Houdini

SideFX is pleased to bring the Houdini HIVE to FMX 2025. We have a great lineup with artists from studios such as RISE, BlueBolt, Framestore, Storm, Bottleship, Untold, The Yard, Entagma, Crater, Rodeo, Arx Anima, and more, who are joining us to share how they use Houdini in their work.

Learn about Houdini’s Solaris for Lookdev, Layout, and Lighting, as well as VFX workflows, Creature FX, and pipeline automation solutions. Find us at FMX in Raum Mannheim all day Wednesday and in Bertha-Benz-Saal on Thursday.

Houdini is built from the ground up to be a procedural system that empowers artists to work freely, create multiple iterations, and rapidly share workflows with colleagues. Houdini lets you make creative decisions deep into production as changes made to Houdini nodes cascade through the network to create new and unique results. This direct ability is retained throughout the creative process and can be used to make last-minute decisions that would be too costly in a traditional CG pipeline.

Find more information on Houdini at FMX here.

Silver Partner: Lenovo

Lenovo is a global technology powerhouse, ranked at 217 in the Fortune Global 500, and a $62 billion revenue company that employs 77,000 people worldwide focused on delivering “smarter technology for all”.

Building on our success as the world’s number one PC maker, Lenovo is expanding its research into growth areas to advance “New IT” technologies (client, edge, cloud, network, and intelligence) including server, storage, mobile, software, solutions, and services. This transformation together with Lenovo’s world-changing innovation is building a more inclusive, trustworthy, and smarter future for everyone, everywhere.

Find more information on Lenovo at FMX here.

Source:FMX2025