{"id":203511,"date":"2025-04-24T22:06:27","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T22:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/animation\/provocation-resistance-disruptive-kaboom-animation-festival-2025-report\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T22:06:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T22:06:27","slug":"provocation-resistance-disruptive-kaboom-animation-festival-2025-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=203511","title":{"rendered":"Provocation, Resistance, Disruptive: Kaboom Animation Festival 2025 Report"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Provocation, Resistance, Disruptive: Kaboom Animation Festival 2025 Report<\/h2>\n

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Kaboom Animation Festival<\/a> (and before that, KLIK<\/a>) has been on my festival list for a long time. Other Skwigly colleagues have been and always returned with tales of the \u2018mad\u2019 atmosphere, the quality of panels and guests, and what a well-run festival it is. But it was always the \u2018mad\u2019 aspect that piqued my interest the most. I had to see for myself\u2026 Although Kaboom takes place in two Dutch cities \u2013 Utrecht and Amsterdam \u2013 I set off for the Amsterdam leg of the festival.<\/p>\n

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Amsterdam\u2019s Eye Filmmuseum \u2013 venue of Kaboom Animation Festiva<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Provocative Shorts & Discussions<\/h4>\n

Taking place at Amsterdam\u2019s Eye Filmmuseum \u2013 a fantastically spacious cinema\/museum complex \u2013 this year\u2019s festival theme was Provocation<\/strong>: celebrating animation as a powerful medium for defiance, resilience, and transformation. True to the theme, the festival team went around with \u2018protest\u2019 placards promoting the screenings, the quiz was \u2018interrupted\u2019 by a protest against the questions, and the opening night featured an interactive installation where guests could pay to destroy a virtual city.<\/p>\n

One thing that Kaboom has always done well is packaging its short films into tightly themed programmes with alluring names: Dateable or Relatable, Punk It Louder, Your Yuck is My Yumm, Bonkers Shorts \u2013 all of which enticed me in on the title alone. Of all the shorts programmes I saw, Your Yuck is My Yumm<\/strong> stood out as the most interesting and enjoyable for me. Curated by Schmutz Cinema<\/a>, this screening explored sexual themes of shame, disgust and consent through its selected films; interspersed with brief discussion points by Linda Duits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Your Yuck is My Yumm screening<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Another favourite short programmes was Danger! Better Safe Than Sorry,<\/strong> which allowed the audience to view rarely seen 16mm films projected on the big screen. I did not realise that Kaboom curator Roloff de Jeu regularly screened films from his personal collection at the festival, but this year\u2019s focus was on safety, public information and educational films which contained animation. Roloff, clutching a megaphone and sporting a high-vis vest channeled the character of a health and safety officer; bellowed safety warnings as the cinema filled with its guests. I was really enjoying this \u2018unorthodox\u2019 side to the festival! As the shorts played out on the screen, I revelled at how the language, tone and overall messages within old public information films age and become out of date to modern audiences; often resulting in unintended humour and a new-found appreciation.<\/p>\n

There was only one panel event, but it was a much needed question that I have not seen addressed yet at festivals: Should We Screen This Old Racist Stuff?<\/strong> The three panellists explored the subject of racial stereotypes in film, if these films should still be shown, and if so, how? The discussion looked at who should be allowed to curate these films, the use of trigger warnings, and how to acknowledge the past. Of course, no fixed answers were able to be given to such a question within 90-minutes, but the general consensus was: perhaps, in the correct context<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Should We Screen This Old Racist Stuff? panel<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

My Highlights: From Iraq to North England<\/h4>\n

One of my highlights of the festival came when I discovered a gap in my schedule and decided to squeeze in the feature film Flavours of Iraq<\/strong>. The 2024 documentary animation, by Feurat Alani and L\u00e9onard Cohen, follows Iraq under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, the American occupation, and the control of the Islamic State; told from Feurat\u2019s point of view from childhood to adulthood. The striking graphic visuals and brilliantly scripted narration pulled me in from the first few seconds, and somehow managed to comfortably (and engagingly) fit 28 years of the country\u2019s history (1989-2017) into 90 minutes. Despite being aware of the social and political realities of what has happened in Iraq, I couldn\u2019t help but leave the cinema with the impact of just how much<\/strong> the country has been through and how it affected daily lives. I was happy to see the film scoop the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. I would highly recommend it.<\/p>\n