Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg Campus Magazin 23/24

SPOTLIGHT
GERI’S GAME
By the time he reached his last decade, my grandfather
could hardly begin telling an old story, or singing an old
song, without his voice cracking and his throat tightening
as his eyes filled with tears, until he smiled and gave
up to laughter.
We are lonely creatures floating in our private boats on
life’s stormy sea, but we can wave at each other across
the waters and remind ourselves that the human condition
is not our own personal curse or joy, but the experience
we all share. By sharing our experience, our
feelings, our fears, our delights, we can admit to our humanity.
And in recognizing ourselves in others we can
feel a little less alone.
We can do this through playing, singing, writing, filmmaking,
storytelling. And it’s well worth doing.
If the Diploma Week presentations are anything to go by,
it’s what the graduates of the Animationsinstitut of the
Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg are quite good at.
ABOUT JAN PINKAVA
Dr. Jan Pinkava has worked in the animation industry for
thirty years and won numerous awards with his films.
During his time at the animation studio Pixar, he won an
Oscar® for his short film GERI'S GAME in 1998. As creator
and co-director, Pinkava was also instrumental in
RATATOUILLE'S Oscar® win for the best animated feature
film in 2008. In addition, Pinkava was involved in
the creation of the innovative format Google Spotlight
Stories as co-founder and creative director. There, he developed
new forms of interactive storytelling. Since mid-
2023, Jan Pinkava is the Director of the Animationsinstitut.
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