KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival
KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival is an annual festival in Amsterdam for all things animated, first held in 2007. KLIK! likes to showcase animation in all of its shapes and sizes and related art forms, giving a platform to animated feature films, shorts, commercials, video games, music videos, comics, and installations. The festival had its eighth edition from 27 October – 1 November 2015 at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands.
With the festival as KLIK!'s flagship, and other activities happening in its wake, KLIK! likes to bring its passion for and knowledge of provocative and top-quality animation to a wide audience. KLIK! also serves as a platform, knowledge hub, and catalyst for the Dutch animation sector.
KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival
The annual festival's program is formed by the following sections:
International competition
KLIK! organizes an international competition for animated shorts, for which it has a call for entries from March until July. Animation professionals and students are invited to submit their work to compete in the following categories:
- Best Animated Shorts
- Best Animated Student Short
- Best Commissioned Animation
- Best Animated Documentary
- Best Animated Music Video
- Best Political Animated Short
- Best Animated Short From an Emerging Country
A comprehensive selection process narrows roughly 1800 entries down to 150 selected films for the competition. Winners are determined by a committee of experts in the field of animation. All winners receive a sculpture from animator Klaas-Harm de Boer, and a cash prize to invest in their next animated short.
Theme programming
Alongside the international competition, each year the festival has a theme that serves to address a socially relevant or current topic from multiple perspectives. This theme is expressed in film screenings, workshops and presentations, installations, and festival decoration and artwork. An overview over the past themes:
- India (2008)
- Politics and Erotics (2009)
- Science (2010)
- Violence (2012)
- Fabulous Fifties (2013)
- Girls, Boys & Beyond (2014)
KLIK! Specials
Alongside the international competition and the theme programming the festival also offers KLIK! Specials, featuring works that touch upon highly relevant topics or are of exceptional artistic quality. The KLIK! Specials segment can include the following:
- Feature film (premieres)
- Documentaries on animation related topics
- Dutch Delights: a compilation of the best Dutch animated films of the past year
- Midnight Madness: a program of entertaining but bizarre films that weren't selected for the competition
- Lectures/ talks
KLIK! Industry
The festival has a special segment for animation professionals to assess the latest developments in and needs of the animation sector. This segment can contain panel discussions, interviews, masterclasses, and consultation hours. Recurring event in the KLIK! Industry segment is the Debutante Ball: animation graduates can introduce their work to producers by showing a one-minute showreel.
KLIK! Events
The festival has several festive events such as Opening Night, Award Night, and the KLIK! KLIK! BOOM party.
KLIK! for Kids
A program of animated shorts and features geared to children aged 6 to 12.
History
KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival is organized by the KLIK! Foundation. KLIK! originates from the Flemish KLIT! Multimedia Festival, that took place in 2004 and 2005, organized by students of the animation academy of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. Their purpose was to provide the general public with access to both their own works and those of their fellow students working in other disciplines. In 2007 the KLIT! Amsterdam Animation Festival was organized for the first time. In 2008 the name 'KLIT!' was changed to 'KLIK!'.