Studios, Exhibition, and Light
Before FAB 2025 officially kicks off on September 26, Berliners can get insights into the local animation scene with a bus tour of Berlin animation studios on Thursday, 25 September, from 12:00 to 18:00. Participants visit four local studios, meet artists at work, and share conversations over drinks and snacks. In parallel, artist Maya Yonesho launches Daumenreise #48: Berlin from 15:30 to 19:00 in Kleines Kino at silent green Kulturquartier. Participants draw flipbook sequences inspired by favourite Berlin locations and assemble them into a collaborative animation. The evening opens with the vernissage of FAB Dimensional at 19:00 in Betonhalle, silent green. This fifth edition exhibits animation beyond traditional screens. At 20:30 in Betonhalle, Maxime Lethelier and Asako Fujimoto perform Floating Levels, a live mix of animated laser projection and music.
Berlin Animation Hub – Professional Exchange
Since 2023, the Berlin Animation Hub has been FAB’s dedicated professional programme. In 2025 it returns with a dense schedule of masterclasses, workshops, pitching sessions, and networking events.
Why This Matters for DP Readers
The Berlin Animation Hub offers rare technical deep dives in a festival setting. For production artists, it means direct access to the workflows of internationally recognised directors: from stop-motion material exploration with Yashiro to Yamamura’s study of sound-image interplay. The workshops bridge analogue craft and digital pipelines, making them directly relevant for animators, compositors, and TDs.
For studios, the Hub is a testing ground for new methods and a chance to hear how colleagues approach specific challenges—whether anime-style 2D pipelines, life-sized charcoal animation, or mobile stop-motion rigs. Unlike trade fairs, the Hub’s scale allows actual exchange: participants can ask questions, show reels, and discuss solutions with the experts themselves.
For DP readers, the Berlin Animation Hub offers what is usually missing at major film festivals: hands-on technical insight and business networking in one place. Events such as the Elevator Pitches, the FAB Pitch, and specialist brunches (including the Panimation Brunch and AG Animationsfilm Get-together) are explicitly aimed at connecting artists, studios, and commissioners. For anyone working in VFX, CGI, or postproduction pipelines, this is the rare Berlin event where artistic experimentation, production technique, and international co-production opportunities meet under one roof.
The Festival!
26 September: Workshops and German Competition
Friday starts with “Animation im Ohr!”, a workshop on audio description for animation, from 09:30 to 14:00 in Atelier 1 at silent green. Together with facilitators, participants create an accessible version of the animated short Jeijay.
At 10:30, children and young audiences get their share: Pink Panda I: Primary School screens at City Kino Wedding, while Pink Panda II: Teens runs in the Kino at silent green.
Later, Neue Talente I screens at 17:00 in City Kino Wedding, presenting student shorts from international film schools.
The official festival opening begins at 19:00 in City Kino Wedding with the Deutscher Animationsfilm competition. The Animanga Choir performs anime music before screenings of German shorts. A champagne reception follows.
27 September: Japan in the Spotlight
Saturday’s schedule extends FAB’s Japanese focus. Daumenreise #48 continues from 14:30 to 20:00 in Atelier 1 at silent green, allowing participants to contribute drawings to Yonesho’s Berlin project.
In the evening, Floating Levels returns for a second performance at 20:30 in Betonhalle. Meanwhile, Japanese directors Lina Machida, Takeshi Yashiro, and Kōji Yamamura host screenings, workshops, and talks (exact slots listed in FAB’s printed catalogue), ranging from stop-motion material explorations to sound-image experiments.
International short films, curated Japanese programmes, and a “best-of” screening by the visiting Factual Animation Film Festival (FAFF) round out the day.
28 September: Hands-on Finale
Sunday closes FAB with a participatory focus. From 13:00 to 16:00 in the Porter’s Room at silent green, Stefan Schomerus’ Mini-Mitmach-Trickfilmstudio invites families and children to build their own stop-motion animations.
Additional Pink Panda screenings return for preschool audiences, while the International and Feature Film Competitions run through the day at City Kino Wedding.
The festival concludes with an award ceremony on 28 September in City Kino Wedding, honouring winners across six categories, including International, German, Commissioned, New Talent, Pink Panda, and Feature Film.
