The Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg (German: ''Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg'') was founded in 1991 as a publicly funded

film school A film school is an educational institution dedicated to teaching aspects of filmmaking, including such subjects as film production, film theory, digital media production, and screenwriting. Film history courses and hands-on technical training are ...

Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a Cities of Germany, city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg (district), Lu ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The Filmakademie is one of the most internationally renowned film schools. One of its major distinguishing characteristics is the close collaboration with three other educational institutions on one campus: the Filmakademie's acclaimed Animationsinstitut (Institute of Animation and Visual Effects);3D World 98's CGI Ivy League table
Issue 98 of 3D World, 1 November 2007 the Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris, an inter-university master-class on European film production and distribution hosted at the Filmakademie and in cooperation with notable French film school La Fémis in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and the National Film and Television School in London; and the neighbouring Academy of Performing Arts. The Filmakademie's international focus is another important aspect of its work. Renowned lecturers from all over the world regularly teach in Ludwigsburg, and exchange programmes with prestigious partner universities in Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia give students insights into foreign film worlds. Every year, the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg organizes a "Hollywood Workshop“ for selected students at the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

as well as a binational short film project in collaboration with students from La Fémis. Incoming students from foreign universities will take part in a course called International Class that offers English-language teaching modules.

Studies

The project-oriented curriculum triggers learning by doing all the different stages of a film, television or interactive media production. More than 300 highly qualified experts from the film and media business instruct the students and take care of their projects. About 250 films of all genres and formats with top rankings on international festivals are produced every year by teams of students enrolled in advertising film, animation, cinematography, documentary film, editing, film and series production, film music, film sound, fiction film, interactive media, motion design, production design, screenwriting, and TV journalism. The Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg only admits students who have at least one of year of practical experience in the film and media business. In addition to the full-fledged study courses, the Filmakademie also offers an International Screen Acting Workshop for aspiring young actresses and actors.

Rankings

In 2003, the

Art Directors Club The Art Directors Club of New York is an organization for art directors in New York City. It was founded in 1920, and has grown as an industry group, promoting art directors' work through exhibitions and awards, including the annual DESI award fo ...

awarded the Filmakademie the title of ''Germany's most creative university''. In 2006, issue 22 of

FOCUS Focus (: foci or focuses) may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in East Australia Film *Focus (2001 film), ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based on the Arthur Miller novel *Focus (2015 ...

, the Filmakademie was ranked as the ''best film school in Germany''.FOCUS Ranking
issue 22/2006 Evaluation criteria were the reputation of the university, the support for the students, the technical equipment and the number of awards won. The animation institute at the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg was listed as second in the 3D World ranking in 2007, a global "Ivy League" table of the world's top animation schools. In 2010 the prestigious magazine

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

listed the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg as the only German institution on its ranking of the world's best film schools."The best film schools in the world"
The Hollywood Reporter, 08/2010 In 2015, 2016 and 2017 the Filmakademie was again listed as one of the "15 best film schools in the world". In 2017, the international awards and mentoring platform The Rookies named the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg and its Animationsinstitut the world's ''Best Visual Effects School'' and ranked it as No. 2 in the categorie ''Best Animation School''.

Awards

Five times, films made at the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg won a Student Academy Award (

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

): ''Rochade'' (1998, directed by Thorsten M. Schmidt), ''NimmerMeer'' (''Nevermore'', 2007, directed by Toke C. Hebbeln), ''Von Hunden und Pferden'' (''Of Dogs and Horses'', 2012, directed by Thomas Stuber), ''Erledigung einer Sache'' (''The Last Will'', 2015, directed by Dustin Loose), and ''Galamsey'' (2017, directed by Johannes Preuss). Other international awards include a

Golden Leopard The Golden Leopard () is the top prize at the Locarno International Film Festival, an international film festival held annually in Locarno, Switzerland since 1946. Directors in the process of getting an international reputation are allowed to b ...

awarded to ''Das Verlangen'' (''The Longing'', directed by Iain Dilthey) at the

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...

2002, and an

nomination for ''

Das Rad ''Das Rad'' (English title: ''Rocks'') meaning "The Wheel" is a 2001 German animated short film written and directed by Chris Stenner, Arvid Uibel and Heidi Wittlinger. Produced using a mixture of stop-motion, puppetry, and Computer-generated ima ...

'' (''Rocks'', directed by Chris Stenner, Heidi Wittlinger and Arvid Uibel) in the category "Best Animated Short Film" (2003).

Notable alumni

* Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck (born 1973), filmmaker and curator

References

External links

*
Animationsinstitut
*Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris https://www.atelier-ludwigsburg-paris.com/de/home/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Film Academy Baden-Wurttemberg Film schools in Germany Mass media in Ludwigsburg Animation schools in Germany