Stefan Pfäffle, Head of the Fiction Department at KiKA, presents the initiative “Outstanding Films for Children”. This initiative, which was launched in 2013, is the result of a collaboration between public television, the film industry, federal and state funding organisations and politicians. It aims to promote films that are not based on well-known brands or literary drafts. Instead, the focus is on stories that authentically reflect the world in which children live and deal with current issues in an original and multi-layered way.

The initiative aims to make an important contribution to giving children's film in Germany more visibility and attention.

Under the editorial supervision of Stefan Pfäffle, formats such as “Yakari” (animation series), “Mascha and the Bear” (animation series), “Animanimals” (animation series) and films from the series KRIMI.DE (television films 2009) as well as films from the initiative “Outstanding Films for Children” (cinema) were created. He teaches at the Master School Drehbuch (Berlin) and the Academy for Children's Media and gives lectures at the University of Erfurt (Seminar for Media and Communication Studies) and the Technical University of Ilmenau (Media Management II).

Dominic James is an award-winning family entertainment producer, screenwriter, and the Chief Creative Officer at La Fête. His films include „Coco Ferme“, which has won 15 international awards, including three Best Picture and four Audience Choice awards; La soeur de Margot, winner of 12 international awards, including three Audience Choice awards; and the highly anticipated „Mlle Bottine“ (Miss Boots), starring Antoine Bertrand and Marguerite Laurence.

Since 2015, Dominic James has owned and overseen the Montreal-based production company, leading both its operations and creative division. His upcoming projects include a film adaptation of the beloved graphic novel Le petit astronaute and the family comedy Ma belle-mère est une sorcière, slated for a Halloween 2025 release.

The series is based on the animation feature “Fritzi - A revolutionary Tale” (2019), which tells the story of the peaceful revolution 1989 in Leipzig from a 12-year-old girl´s perspective. In 8 episodes, the series delves into the themes of GDR everyday life and tells the story of Fritzi's friend Sophie, who dares the dramatic escape to the West with her mother. While Sophie starts a new life in the West, Fritzi gets caught in the middle of the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig.

Elias Schwarze (Technical Directorat Balance Film) and Jan Mildner (Supervisor Compositing) offer valuable insights into the challenges and innovations that made the transition from 2D cinema film to 3D series possible.

Animation series for kids, 8 x 22min, Directors: Ralf Kukula, Matthias Bruhn, Thomas Meyer-Hermann

A production of Balance Film, TrickStudio Lutterbeck, Studio FILM BILDER in Co-production with ARD, MDR, WDR, SWR. Funded by BKM, MDM, Film- & Medienstiftung NRW, MFG Baden-Württemberg. The animation was done with motion capture technology, which was further processed in the 3D software Blender.

Carthew Neal is an Academy nominated producer, who formed Piki Films with filmmaker Taika Waititi, and also leads the production company Fumes.

Carthew produced Taika Waititi’s “Jojo Rabbit” and “Hunt For the Wilderpeople”, Jackie Van Beek and Madeleine Sami’s “The Breaker Upperers”.

He is executive producer on Rachel House’s “The Mountain”, Josephine Stewart Te Whiu’s “We Were Dangerous”, Damon Fepulea’i’s “Red,White & Brass” and Curtis Vowell's “Baby Done”.

He also produced David Lowery’s Pete’s “Dragon”, David Farrier’s “Tickled and Dark Tourist”, Tanu Gago’s “fafswagvogue.com”, award-winning web series “Aroha Bridge”, Madeleine Sami’s TV series “Super City” and conceived and produced two series of “Wa$ted”. 

In an exclusive Fire Side Talk, he gives insights into his creative work and the challenges of film production, shares exciting stories from his career and talks about the importance of original storytelling in the film business.

His current productions “We were dangerous” and “The Mountain” are official competition entries at this year's IFF SCHLiNGEL.