Thomas Stellmach (born 1965 in

Straubing Straubing () is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern Germany. It is seat of the district of Straubing-Bogen. Annually in August the Gäubodenvolksfest, the second largest fair in Bavaria, is held. The city is located on the Danube form ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

) is a German animated film producer and director. Stellmach has received many awards including the

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...

for his 1996 film ''

Quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ever ...

''. Stellmach studied at the Department of

Animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

at the

University of Kassel The University of Kassel (german: link=no, Universität Kassel) is a university founded in 1971 located in Kassel, Hessen, in central Germany. As of February 2022 it had about 25,000 students and about 3300 staff, including more than 300 prof ...

Art College in Germany, being taught by the well-known artist Paul Driessen. Having received his Degree of Arts in 1999 Stellmach founded the animation studio Lichthof, Film & Animation in Kassel with two partners and produced animation films for television and advertising. He has handed off his share of the company to focus on artistic animation projects since 2009. His field of experience contains

computer animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

animated cartoon Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

and

pixilation Pixilation is a stop motion technique in which live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. The actor beco ...

. Stellmach directed the animated experimental film ''Virtuos Virtuell'' with the artist Maja Oschmann to the overture of

Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, ...

's opera ''The Alchymist'' in stereoscopic. So far he hold workshops at various academies, e.g. * 2002 - now: annual animation workshop with the prize winners of the International Competition for Youths, youth creativ’ by the association of the German Volks- u. Raiffeisenbanken, Germany * 2012: stop motion workshop at the Youth Training Institute, Hanau * 2011: stop motion workshop at the Royal Film Commission, Amman, Jordan * 2007 - 2011: annual stop motion workshop at the

University of Television and Film Munich The University of Television and Film Munich (German: Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München, short: HFF Munich) is a publicly funded film school in Munich, Germany. The school was established in 1966 by decree of the Bavarian government. T ...

* 2003: animation workshop at the

Art College * 1997, 2000 - 2001: animation lectures at the

Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

* 1997, 2001 and 2008: animation lectures at the

Academy of Media Arts The Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) is an art and film school started 1990 in Cologne, Germany Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-m ...

Cologne * 1996: several animation lectures at the

Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design The Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG) is a state art college founded in 1992 in Karlsruhe. It focuses on media art, communication design , product design , exhibition design and scenography, art research and media philosophy wit ...

His film, ''

'', was included in the Animation Show of Shows.

Filmography

* 2013: ''Virtuos Virtuell'', animated experimental film (directors: Thomas Stellmach, Maja Oschmann) * 2001-2008: ''Commercials'', computer animation / cartoon animation / stop motion animation, Client: Wrigley's HubbaBubba / BBDO-Düsseldorf, German Pay-TV Premiere / Goldammer, Landesbausparkasse / BBDO-Berlin, Lindt & Sprüngli / FCB Wilkens, MTV-Germany, ZDF-German Television / Kika (Direction, Animation, Production: Lichthof - Film & Animation) ;Short films and commercials during study Direction, Animation, Production: Thomas Stellmach (As far as nothing else is mentioned.) * 2000: ''Chicken Kiev'', cartoon animation, 9 min * 1998: ''Lebenshilfe-Commercial'', cartoon animation, 0:30 min, (Idea, Director, Animation: Monika Stellmach), Client: Lebenshilfe e.V. * 1996: ''Quest'', puppet animation, 11 min, (Director: Tyron Montgomery) * 1995: ''100 Years of Cinema'', cartoon animation, 3 min, (Idea, Director, Animation, Production: Students of the Art College Kassel), Client: HR-Television * 1994: ''Old Super Lady'', cartoon animation, 0:30 min, Client: MTV-Europe * 1994: ''Small Talk'', pixilation, 5 min, (Animation: Students of the Art College Kassel) * 1994: ''Filmladen-Trailer'', pixilation, 2 min, (Animation: Students of the Art College Kassel), Client: Filmladen Kassel * 1992: ''Weeds'', cartoon animation, 5 min * 1988: ''Gulp'', experimental / life action, 5 min, (Idea, Director, Animation, Production: Mark Feuerstake; Actor: Thomas Stellmach) * 1988: ''Tee-Hee'', cartoon animation, 2 min ;Short films before study * 1987: ''White'', puppet animation, 11 min * 1986: ''Let me live'', clay animation, 6 min * 1986: ''Rom and Jul'', object animation, 14 min * 1985: ''The last Leaf'', clay animation, 6 min * 1985: ''The big Labyrinth'', clay animation, 5 min * 1985: ''Competition without Winners'', object animation, 12 min * 1984: ''Clay, clay animation'', 5 min * 1982: ''Domino Play'', 5 min, object animation

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stellmach, Thomas 1965 births Living people Directors of Best Animated Short Academy Award winners English-language film directors German animated film directors German animated film producers Film people from Bavaria People from Straubing University of Kassel alumni