TO INFINITY AND BEYOND First of all, Kaboom is very excited to invite you to our themed program about space travel. It’s a subject that concerns us all—or at least it most probably will in the future. We will consider space travel from a great variety of angles by showcasing a carefully curated selection of animated work. We’ll have a look at the philosophical implications of leaving our precious blue-green marble behind, we’ll scream our lungs out at the intergalactic horrors that await us and… we’ll try not to get too aroused by looking at all those tight-fitting space suits.

100 YEARS OF DUTCH ANIMATION One of the main goals of Kaboom is to nourish the Dutch animation sector and provide it with the international audience it deserves. And what better year for us to put a bright shining spotlight on Dutch animation than 2019, exactly 100 years after the first animation film was produced in the Netherlands? It was a promotional film for an aviation show in AmsterdamNoord in 1919 called A Little Adventure in the Sky. To celebrate the rich history of Dutch animation, Kaboom has compiled a set of programs consisting of
Dutch animation made between 1919 and 2019. This is a unique chance to see these films in such great quality, so go for it!

FOCUS ON SOUTH KOREA We used to be quite the noobs when it came to the history of South Korean animation: it was like having a very intriguing stranger in our midst that we wanted to know a whole lot better. That’s why we decided to do a deep dive into its sumptuous history. South Korean animation stands out because it displays a perplexing richness of creativity. It is very much its own special thing, and comparing it to cinema from any other country would be like comparing apples and oranges that have been processed into a tasty kimchi.

FOCUS ON AARDMAN This legendary British powerhouse has been treating us to incredibly successful and astonishingly funny stop-motion clay animation productions for many years now. While Aardman Animations is probably best known for their series of shorter and longer films based on the Wallace and Gromit characters, their animated feature Chicken Run (Peter Lord & Nick Park, 2000) ranks as the highestgrossing stop-motion film in the history of forever. And Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the WereRabbit (Nick Park & Steve Box, 2005) won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.

FOCUS ON ARTISTS Be sure to check out our Focus on Artists program, where we give artists the spotlight, whether they want it or not. There’s a workshop by Steven Woloshen (pioneer of drawn-on-film animation) and master classes by David Sproxton (one of the co-founders of Aardman) and Mike Hollingsworth (of BoJack Horseman fame). Why not join Anna Eijsbouts at her Filmmaker’s Talkshow, where she talks to filmmakers taking part in this year’s competition? And on our Night of Shame, we’ll listen to artists tell us their horror stories about disastrous animation projects.

FOCUS ON COMICS Finally: let’s talk comic books, graphic novels, digital comics and their relation to animation! We’ll watch short animated films based on comics, we’ll watch longer animated features based on comics, and we’ll chat a bit about creativity, experimentation and successes and failures in the comic book world. Juicy!