!VAR HAGENDOORN

Holland Animation Film Festival 2009

The Holland Animation Film Festival is one of the oldest and largest of its kind. As of this year it has become an annual event, which testifies to the vitality of animation as an artform. I only had time to see a few programmes and I don't have time for an extensive review, so I'll just list some of my favourite shorts here.

The tale of little puppet boy by Swedish director Johannes Nyholm won the award in the category narrative. You can watch the first episode online. I loved it. It's really funny how he is sweating clay.

Je criais contre la vie, ou pour elle by Vergine Keaton won in the category non-narrative. It's a very powerful movie.

Please say something by David O'Reilly was one of the highlights of this year's festival. The story is funny, the technique innovative and form and content reinforce each other. You can watch more of his work here.

I really liked the explosion of shapes and colours of Jam by Japanese director Mirai Mizue. It should really be seen on a large screen though. You can see more of Mizue's work on his website.

If you enjoyed Sita sings the blues then you'll probably like this commercial for Indian sulekha.com, which revives the ancient Indian art of Patta Chitra Katha. It won an award in the category commissioned films.

What to say about Shkizein by Jérémy Clapin other than that it is exceptionally well-made and has a funny and original story-line?

Photograph of Jesus by Laurie Hill is an experimental collage based on actual image requests received by Getty Images using images from the archive.

I liked the scratched drawing technique in View by Nayoon Rhee.

Related

Holland Animation Film Festival 2010

Holland Animation Film Festival 2008

Holland Animation Film Festival 2004