Imke Fehrmann Joins Germany’s Akkord Film As Executive Producer

Imke Fehrmann is joining Akkord Film, the German production company, as executive producer.

Here are the details of her appointment.

• 

  Fehrmann is a veteran producer and executive with 25 years of experience across the animation and vfx industries. She was an associate producer on Animal Logic’s Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole and Lucasfilm’s Strange Magic, and has also served as a consultant at Aardman, and executive vfx producer at Rodeo FX and Framestore. She was most recently CEO of animation studio Hahn Film AG in Berlin, Germany.

• In her new role, she will steer strategy at Akkord together with Dirk Beinhold, the company’s founder and managing director. As executive producer, she will be responsible for all productions.
• Akkord was founded in 2001 by Beinhold and is based across Germany and Los Angeles. It focuses on animated features and series — particularly for young and family audiences — although it produces live-action projects too.
• “I am looking forward to the new challenge,” Fehrmann said in a statement. “Akkord consistently produces high-quality feature films and series, and is already one of Germany’s leading animation companies. Together with the talented Akkord team and new artists, I would like to build on this internationally and thank Dirk Beinhold for his confidence.”
• Beinhold adds, “Imke’s concentrated international competence is unique in Germany. Our upcoming feature film The Elfkins — Baking a Difference (image at top) already hints at Akkord Film’s future. With Imke, we will develop the company in such a way that our series and feature productions will be increasingly developed in international partnerships and have a firm place in the global market.”
• Germany is a large market for children’s entertainment, and Akkord is one of a number of studios spearheading a boom in animation production in the country (The Hollywood Reporter has more on the subject). Akkord produced two 2d features, Raven the Little Rascal and its sequel, for $5 million each, raising all funds locally.
• However, it is also committed to international co-productions. Beinhold outlined his thinking to German Films Quarterly: “At Akkord Film, we work very hard to adapt our local brands… into internationally appealing family entertainment by spending years on story development. At this stage, we only develop simple 2d designs in order to avoid design and technology dictating content. It is only then that we start modelling our characters to serve the story. Nowadays, 3d/cg animation… sells almost ten times better in the rest of the world than 2d animation. However, German-speaking countries and territories like France still appreciate 2d animated features.”
• In addition to her career as a producer, Fehrmann is closely involved with Women in Animation, the international organization dedicated to the advancement of women in the animation and vfx industries. She was also a co-initiator of its German equivalent.