Stop-motion is back (but never really left)! Enjoy a tribute to recent Belgian stop-motion work by award-winning animators Patar & Aubier, Emma de Swaef & Marc Roels, and more.

Belgium’s relationship with animation is anything but boring. Just as the country’s politics, its artistic output is lively and often surrealist. Today, animators like Emma de Swaef & Marc Roels continue a long-standing Belgian tradition of surrealism, magic realism and absurdism, without ever losing focus of profound human emotions. And it only seems like yesterday when the late Raoul Servais pioneered the genre in Belgium in the sixties, initiating a separate department for animation film at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent – a first for continental Europe.

Belgium loves to experiment, not just with fries and waffles. In the previous century, artists dabbled with “Ride” movies, 3D projections, and the interplay between live-action and animation. Brussels was once the capital of European animation, housing the largest animation film studio in Western Europe. Despite the country’s modest size, it has produced many a great animation film auteur, who went on to garner acclaim around the world – it feels almost surreal Hollywood has never made a call.

Yet, the Belgian animation scene is notoriously hard to pin down. At first glance, nobody seems to have anything in common … But put two and two together and the connections become apparent: a passion for graphic art deeply rooted in Belgium’s rich pictorial tradition (thank you, Flemish Masters), a nostalgic longing for traditional techniques (especially stop-motion), and humour. Lots of humour, preferably of the most absurd kind. And of course, surrealism is never far from the party, and why would it be? After all, the surrealist art movement practically originated in Belgium. Or did anyone forget about René Magritte and his pipe?

Stop-Motion: Handmade in Belgium
Stop-motion is back (but never really left)! Belgium never stopped loving stop-motion. And how could they, with so much talent in their ranks. This is a collection of recent works by award-winning artists such as Aubier & Patar, Emma de Swaef & Marc Roels, and Nicolas Keppens, among others. As skillful masters of the stop-motion craft and with great wit, they bring their self-made creations to life. And we are just privileged we can witness their small and big battles, not infrequently with themselves.

This program screened as part of Kaboom Animation Festival 2025

Showing in this program

A Town Called Panic: The Noise of the Grey

• Patar Vincent / Aubier Stephane
• France / Belgium, 2016
• 3 min.

A still frame, the hallway of the gray, dull house of Horse, Cowboy and Indian. Cowboy and his crazy stooges fill the place, giving it life and color. Until a troublemaker enters and ruins everything…

Balance

• Timothée Crabbé
• Belgium, 2019
• 7 min.

Partners on stage and in life, acrobats Alec and Theo find each other in a perfect balance between lifting and flying, between leading and following, until this fragile balance is turned upside down by an accident. While Alec has to understand his physical situation, Theo climbs into the depths of his being, looking for the strength to deal with reality.

Beautiful Men

• Nicolas Keppens
• Belgium / France / The Netherlands, 2023
• 18 min.

Three balding brothers travel to Istanbul to get a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.

Inglorious Liaisons

• Chloé Alliez / Violette Delvoye
• France, 2021
• 11 min.

Tonight, it's a big party for Lucie, Maya and their friends. Even Jimmy has come: everyone
knows he is here for Maya. But when everything is supposed to happen, Maya and Lucie
finds out they have hidden, tender and confused feelings for each other. They have trouble
finding their place in this evening filled with alcohol, awesome playlists and raging
hormones.

Oh Willy…

• Emma de Swaef / Marc James Roels
• Belgium / The Netherlands, 2012
• 16 min.

Forced to return to his naturist roots, Willy bungles his way into noble savagery.

The Proposal

• Gerlando Infuso
• Belgium / France, 2018
• 14 min.

Icaro chooses Valentine’s Day to propose to his beautiful Vanilla in their favorite
restaurant: The Golden Mussel. But Dimitri, the chef, does everything to get in the way
of the young seducer, putting Icaro’s sincere commitment at stake.