01. What to expect at FMX 2025

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Interview with Mario Müller

Hideki Nagaishi (HN): What is the main theme of this year’s FMX? And what kind of information and experiences do you expect participants to have through the FMX 2025 program?

Mario Müller: This year’s FMX theme is “RHYTHM OF CHANGE”. With it, we want to address the disruptions that the film and media industry is going through right now. Kicked off by the pandemic, the Hollywood strikes of 2023, the changing business models in cinema and streaming distribution, the recent consolidations hitting the studios and the workforce, and the rapid developments of Generative AI, they are all shaking the foundations for everybody working in the industry.

FMX 2025 will shine a light on the situation and attempt to give input and inspiration to working professionals as well as those about to enter the industry. Benefits for the FMX audience will come through presentations and discussions as well as questions & answers sessions on the topic that we expect will be lively. The candid discussions and networking that will come out of those will make this a particularly intense experience for the international community, and we hope that participants will have a good and productive time in the safe space that FMX will provide on site in Stuttgart.

HN: Could you please let us know the highlights of FMX 2025, from your viewpoint?

Mario Müller: I’m always hesitant to point out individual sessions at FMX as I believe that the width and depth of the program is one of the defining traits of the conference. Through clear structuring of the topics, tracks, projects and speakers in the program section on the FMX website, everybody will find what they are looking for with just a few clicks. And with the ‘Favorites’ function of the website, everyone will be able to build their individual agenda for the conference on site, and for the on demand program after the conference. 

My personal highlights then are, in no particular order: 

• FMX 2025 Program Chair Paul Debevec’s keynote (14:15, 6^th May) on the astonishing developments of his invention, the Light Stage, over the span of 25 years, and how it keeps redefining work in the industry, as well as a look at the state of the industry and an outlook on where it may be heading. 
• 2 Presentations on the latest Marvel movies, Captain America: Brave New World (15:45, 6^th May) and Thunderbolts (17:00, 9^th May), the latter of which is opening in cinemas just days before FMX. 
• A session on the VFX of Better Man (15:45, 7^th May), in which music superstar Robbie Williams was brought to life as a singing, dancing, and emoting chimpanzee. 
• VFX or animation? You decide: A session on the making of Mufasa: The Lion King (17:00, 7^th May), which may be the only time you will be able to see a presentation on the spectacular work in this fully CG-animated film.
• The ‘Where Do We Go Next’ panel discussion (18:15, 7^th May) that will wrap up the official AI track ‘GenAI is Growing Up’ at FMX this year, with some of the best practitioners in the field. Not to mention the dozen more sessions on AI – clearly the artificial elephant in the room – that are sprinkled throughout FMX’s program this year, with one of them being:
• ‘AI-Driven De-Aging in Robert Zemeckis’ Here‘ (12:30, 8^th May), which will cover the complex and revolutionary AI-enabled work on the film, without which the project could not have come to life.
• Hot off the release calendar: a VFX session on Andor (15:45, 8^th May) just days after the much-awaited season 2 hits streaming.
• A session on the VFX of my current favorite TV show: Severance, season 2 (10:00, 9^th May).

As mentioned, this is my very personal list of FMX 2025 favorites. As I will not be able to see (hardly) any of them on site in Stuttgart from 6^th to 9^th May, I will do my best to catch up on them via video on demand when FMX switches to online mode from 10^th May to 10^th June.

HN: Could you please share with us this year’s program that you would particularly recommend to animation professionals?

Mario Müller: This year, a full and diverse roster of presentations on animated projects from blockbusters to smaller, more independent projects will be available at FMX 2025:

• 2 presentations on the animation and the sound design for the Academy Award-winning animated feature Flow (10:00, 6^th May and 10:00, 7^th May), both of which will explain how non-verbal communication was key to brining the animals and the story of this unique film to life. This will be topped off by our closing screening, together with the ITFS International Festival of Animated Film Stuttgart, with the FMX and ITFS speakers on the film in attendance.
• A session on Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (11:15, 6^th May), everybody’s favorite stop motion characters, with Will Becher from Aardman Animations.
• Pixar’s Win or Lose (18:15, 8^th May), the studio’s first foray into long-form episodic storytelling.
• A making-of for the mind-bending season 2 of the brilliant Arcane animated series (12:30, 9^th May). 
• Big-budget animation for Moana (Vaiana) 2 with Walt Disney Animation Studios (15:45, 9^th May).
• Mid-budget, heart-warming yet anarchic animation for That Christmas with DNEG Animation (14:30, 9^th May). 
• A fireside chat between two bright minds: Alan Keith, SVP Global Operations, Netflix Animation Studios, and Jan Pinkava, Conference Chair of FMX, on the changing face of the animation industry from Netflix’s point of view (17:00, 6^th May).
• Any and all presentations and discussions on GenAI at FMX, which is affecting animation production just as much as it does many other aspects of the filmmaking process.

HN: Are there any trending topics that you’re paying attention in the areas covered by FMX 2025? If so, could you please share with that?

Mario Müller: As mentioned above, AI remains unavoidable in discussing, and dealing with, working in film and media now and going forward. While researching the disruptions that the industry is going through right now, it became clear that GenAI, while just one of several factors, is a very big part of the changes happening. 

Many a discussion will be started, and questions asked, at FMX 2025 regarding the future of working in the industry. While no specific answers can and will be given at the conference, the candid conversations around it will be stimulating and important in dealing with the changes, on an individual level as well as for Media & Entertainment in general. 

Apart from around 250 speakers and 200 sessions on site at FMX, its three exhibition rooms will offer additional opportunities to inform our participants about what’s new and important for their work or their education in animation and visual effects: the ‘Marketplace’ for hardware, software and services, the ‘Recruiting Hub’ for recruitment by national and international studios and companies, and the ‘School Campus’ for representation and information from German and European film and media schools. 

Last but not least, FMX will once again host get-togethers every evening in front of the conference center, some of them sponsored by our industry partners and offering free drinks! 

FMX 2025 takes place on site in Stuttgart, Germany from 6^th to 9^th May, 2025. If you can’t make it, most of the sessions will be recorded and made available on demand from 10^th May to 10^th June. 

Despite the challenges that surround us, FMX 2025 will be the place where the international community meets once again to exchange, get informed, and be inspired. There is no better time to join Europe’s leading conference on animation, effects and digital media than this spring, so get your tickets now!