Provocation, Resistance, Disruptive: Kaboom Animation Festival 2025 Report
Kaboom Animation Festival (and before that, KLIK) has been on my festival list for a long time. Other Skwigly colleagues have been and always returned with tales of the ‘mad’ atmosphere, the quality of panels and guests, and what a well-run festival it is. But it was always the ‘mad’ aspect that piqued my interest the most. I had to see for myself… Although Kaboom takes place in two Dutch cities – Utrecht and Amsterdam – I set off for the Amsterdam leg of the festival.
Amsterdam’s Eye Filmmuseum – venue of Kaboom Animation Festiva
Provocative Shorts & Discussions
Taking place at Amsterdam’s Eye Filmmuseum – a fantastically spacious cinema/museum complex – this year’s festival theme was Provocation: celebrating animation as a powerful medium for defiance, resilience, and transformation. True to the theme, the festival team went around with ‘protest’ placards promoting the screenings, the quiz was ‘interrupted’ by a protest against the questions, and the opening night featured an interactive installation where guests could pay to destroy a virtual city.
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 – all of which enticed me in on the title alone. Of all the shorts programmes I saw, Your Yuck is My Yumm stood out as the most interesting and enjoyable for me. Curated by Schmutz Cinema, this screening explored sexual themes of shame, disgust and consent through its selected films; interspersed with brief discussion points by Linda Duits.
Your Yuck is My Yumm screening
Another favourite short programmes was Danger! Better Safe Than Sorry, 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’s 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 ‘unorthodox’ 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screen, I revelled at how the language, tone and overall messages within old public information films age and become out of date to modern audiences; often resulting in unintended humour and a new-found appreciation.
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? 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.
Should We Screen This Old Racist Stuff? panel
My Highlights: From Iraq to North England
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. The 2024 documentary animation, by Feurat Alani and Léonard Cohen, follows Iraq under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, the American occupation, and the control of the Islamic State; told from Feurat’s 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’s history (1989-2017) into 90 minutes. Despite being aware of the social and political realities of what has happened in Iraq, I couldn’t help but leave the cinema with the impact of just how much 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.
Something that I rarely dabble in nowadays (as I know I would become quickly addicted) is gaming. Aside from pulling on a VR headset at various festivals, it has been a few years since I have picked up a controller and played what you would consider a ‘traditional game’. This all changed at Kaboom, who hosted a free walk-in games area; showcasing the latest games that incorporate various animation styles and techniques. Of the twelve games on offer, unfortunately I only played two: Poke a Nose (fun, but one of those frustrating games!) and Thank Goodness You’re Here. The reason I only played two? I became completely addicted to the latter, and for the rest of the festival I could not walk past the games area without being known as the guy who spent hours on this game. Thank Goodness You’re Here is simply brilliant.
Screenshot from ‘Thank Goodness You’re Here’ game
Created by Yorkshire based Coal Supper, and set in the fictional Northern English town of Barnsworth, this game has it all: charmingly designed characters and environments, a plethora of background gags and scripted lines that wallow in good old Northern (English) humour, plenty of innuendo, and a simplicity to the gaming element that leaves you wanting to explore and complete the many challenges. It was great that Kaboom were able to bring in one of the game’s animators, Pip Williamson, for an informal Q&A session. I challenge you to watch the trailer and not want to try this game…
Making New Friends
I am always looking forward to meeting old and new faces at the opening and closing parties, but there were two social events that I was particularly anticipating: Nancy’s Winter Picnic and the Animation Pub Quiz. If you’ve ever attended Nancy’s ever-growing annual picnic at Annecy (where the Joanna Quinn/Skwigly rounders game takes place), you will be familiar with the format: bring food, bring drink, talk, have fun, EVERYONE is welcome. Despite it being March (and held inside) this event was no different. Kaboom rolled out the fake grass on the festival café floor, invited people to lay blankets, and offered snacks to all. The picnic served as the perfect backdrop for an ‘in-conversation’ style presentation with both Nik and Nancy Denney-Phelps, where the excellent Anna Eijsbouts posed questions about Nancy’s life, career and festival adventures; all of which can be found in her new book: On the Animation Trail: 20 Years of Animation Festival History. The talk was rounded off with an insightful pre-recorded video by Joanna Quinn, who discussed her process of designing the book’s cover.
Book cover of “On the Animation Trail: 20 Years of Animation Festival History” and Nic, Nancy and Anna Eijsbouts at Nancy’s Winter Picnic event
Moving on to the final day of the festival, the Animation Pub Quiz was a fun, yet VERY competitive, way to meet one last group of new friends. As a regular at the Skwigly Quiz each year, I was eager to see how quizmasters Roloff de Jeu and Maarten van Gageldonk compared to our very own Steve and Ben – and in short, they were fantastic. Bouncing off of each other, they provided laughs and sarcasm as they wove anagrams, trivia, picture and buzzer rounds together. Unfortunately, my team did not win (one of the cool Kaboom t-shirts) prizes, but we had a great time and I hope to see this quiz return year after year.
My Animation Pub Quiz team
Kaboom was truly a blast and lived up to my expectations in every way: from the well-curated shorts programmes to the insightful panel talk; from the games area to the inclusive social events, I can now join my fellow Skwigly colleagues in returning to the UK with nothing but praise and the desire to return again next year.
Kaboom Animation Festival will return in 2026 (dates T.B.C), in Utrecht, Amsterdam and Online. (Additionally, opening on 10th July 2025 and ready for next year’s festival, the Eye Filmmuseum will host a new permanent exhibition about analogue animation techniques.)
Full List of 2025 Award Winners
As the winners of the Best Animated Short Film and Best Animated Dutch Short are automatically eligible to enter the Academy Award® Short Film competition, both Scars We Love (Raphaël Jouzeau) and Skroll (Marten Visser) will get the chance to be qualified for an Oscar®.
Scars We Love, by Raphaël Jouzeau
Additionally, the winners of Best Short Film, Best Documentary, Best Jamie Bolio, Best VR, and Best Student Short will be going to the Annie Awards.
BEST VR
Project: Impulse: Playing with Reality
Barry Gene Murphy, May Abdalla
NANCY AWARD
Film: Pelikan Blue
László Csáki
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Film: Will You Come With Me?
Derya Durmaz
BEST DUTCH STUDENT SHORT
Film: Mother’s Child
Naomi Noir
BEST DUTCH STUDENT SHORT SPECIAL MENTION 1
Film: States of Matter
Marvin Hauck
BEST DUTCH STUDENT SHORT SPECIAL MENTION 2
Film: Immature
Eddy Wu
BEST DUTCH SHORT
Film: Skroll
Marten Visser
BEST STUDENT SHORT INTERNATIONAL SPECIAL MENTION
Film: A Blue Summer
Juliette Ragot
BEST STUDENT SHORT
Film: The Shortest Relationship in the World
Xiaoxuan Han
BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT
Film: Scars We Love
Raphaël Jouzeau
BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT SPECIAL MENTION
Film: Father’s Letters
Alexey Evstigneev
JAMIE BOLIO AWARD
Film: MIMT
Ted Wiggin
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM
Film: On Weary Wings
Anu-Laura Tuttelberg
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FILM
Film: Scars We Love
Raphaël Jouzeau
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST KIDS FILM
Film: Hoofs on Skates
Ignas Meilunas
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST FEATURE FILM
Film: Flavors of Iraq
Léonard Cohen
AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST COMMISSIONED FILM
Film: Group Session
Studio Mals, Setreset Films, Koen Berkhout, Martin van der Molen, Silas Nout
