Klik! Animation Festival Starts Today in Amsterdam
Beginning today and running throughout the weekend, the Klik! Amsterdam Animation Festival returns to the futuristic EYE Film Museum in the Netherlands. If you’re anywhere in the area, make an effort to check it out. Not only does the festival take place in an architecturally impressive venue, but the programming can’t be beat.
Besides a full slate of competition screenings and curated programs, Klik! also offers a significant amount of programming based around a specific annual theme. This year’s theme, “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” focuses on materiality, D.I.Y. culture, and the beauty of imperfection.
Three major programs, overseen by the festival’s program head (and Cartoon Brew’s European correspondent) Tunde Vollenbroek, were curated around the theme: “Things Have Feelings Too,” an interactive screening in which visitors receive a package of real materials to tinker with while watching films (for example, if a film was made with wool, you can look into your packet for an actual piece of wool); “Ceci n’est pas une animation,” that explores films which are technically live-action but employ the visual language of animation; and “The Craft of Early Computer Animation,” an expedition through 30 years of early computer animation.
Building on the festival theme, Klik’s special guests this year include crafts-oriented filmmakers Johan Rijpma, Johnny Kelly, and PES. They’ll be joined by other guests including Disney’s Eric Daniels, who helped create the Meander software for Paperman, recent Oscar nominees Job, Joris & Marieke, Song of the Sea director Tomm Moore, and Finnish filmmaker Eliza Jäppinen, creator of the virtual electropop band Studio Killers.
Since its founding, the Dutch festival has earned a reputation for its silly and playful approach, and this year promises to continue that tradition. Among the nuttier programs: the return of the popular “Midnight Madness” screening, which is a “compilation of bizarre, wondrous, and batshit animated shorts,” a Saturday night boat party that will sail the IJ River until 5am, and a live rock-paper-scissors tournament.
And if you’re not in Amsterdam, you can still partake in the fun: on October 30, Klik’s YouTube channel will host a live Q&A with We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong.
For additional program and ticketing info, visit the Klik! festival website.