These world-class filmmakers all had to start somewhere. A programme of debut films by acclaimed animators.
The song "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones might be a sexual metaphor, but it can definitely apply to debut films by renowned animators as well. "If you start me up, I'll never stop", the band sings. These world-class filmmakers certainly didn't stop. And they all had to start somewhere, anxiously finishing their very first project. Go back to where it all began for acclaimed animators like Paul Driessen, Michaël Dudok de Wit, Emma De Swaef, Gil Alkabetz, Julia Pott and more!
Japanese multi-talented filmmaker and illustrator Koji Yamamura's latest short Dozens of Norths won the Contrechamp Award at last year's Annecy International Animation Film Festival. More than thirty years ago, he put out his first professional short film, Aquatic, depicting the transformations of a man into an army of slightly predatory-looking fish.
Perhaps best known for the animated opening credits sequence of Lola Rennt, Israeli animator Gil Alkabetz died in September 2022. His thought-provoking and often political shorts will stand the test of time. Bitzbutz was his graduation short at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jeruzalem, a three-minute film in black and white about a black monster and a white bird who fight over territory.
Nowadays Paul Driessen is one of the most iconic animators from the Netherlands. It's almost hard to imagine even he had to start somewhere ... In his case, with some commercials for Cetabever glue.
In 1979, Evert de Beijer made his graduation film. Gerard is a film about a dog that roams and rambles around, witnessing a few peculiar incidents concerning chairs.
Swiss animation film director Georges Schwizgebel has built an impressive career. It all started with the 1974 short Le vol d'Icare, a pointillist animation telling the myth of the flight of Icarus.
Before moving to London to study at the Royal College of Art which led her to make the award-winning Small People with Hats, animation director Sarina Nihei graduated from Tama Art University in Tokyo in 2012 with Love-Hate Relationship, a short about a boy who tries to escape from real life and his mother who doesn't understand him.
Before she went on to create the wildly popular Cartoon Network series Summer Camp Island, British animator Julia Pott made her debut in 2007 with My First Crush, a relatable exploration of the feelings, the highs and the lows that go with a first crush. The film uses interviews with people about their first experiences with love.
A woman paints her toenails, kicks a man on the backside and laughs at her actions. How a woman can get rid of a man.
In 1993, English animator Alison Snowden won the Oscar for Best Animated Short with the film Bob's Birthday. But already back in 1985, she earned her first Oscar-nomination. Her impressive debut short Second Class Mail tells a poignant yet funny story about a lonely woman who aims to cure her loneliness by mail-ordering an inflatable husband.
Now Belgian director and stop-motion artist Emma De Swaef forms a duo with Marc James Roels. Their film This Magnificent Cake! received international acclaim. Already in her graduation short Soft Plants, De Swaef experimented with felt puppets, telling the story of office worker Willy whose mind wanders between dangerous flowers and an imaginary friendship for a soft sheep.
Last year, Kaboom fans got to experience Michaela Pavlátová's feature My Sunny Maad. A long time ago, in 1990, the Academy Award-nominated and Golden Bear-winning feminist filmmaker released her very first short, exploring crosswords and sex.
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When Dutch animator Michaël Dudok de Wit released his first feature film, The Red Turtle, in 2016, the world got to know the power of the filmmaker's style and vision. Decades before, he graduated from the West Surrey College of Art with The Interview, a minimalist yet graceful short in which a little creature, wandering with a microphone, hopes to interview others.
In 2006 she would win the Cristal Award for Best Short Film in Annecy for Tragic Story with Happy Ending, but almost a decade before that Portuguese animator Regina Pessoa took part in the Escape Projects workshop in the French city with the project The Night, a film she would finish in 1999. Her debut is an affecting film about a little girl who can't seem to connect with her mother and experiences a fearful night in bed.
Her second animated feature film, My Love Affair with Marriage, is currently screening in Kaboom's Feature Film Competition, but Latvian artist Signe Baumane has many short films on her filmography. Including her debut The With and the Cow, a hilariously weird film about a tiny witch that tries to milk an immense cow. Safe to say things get out of control.
Kaboom Animation Festival is the one-stop-shop for the latest and greatest in all things animated. Ranging from cutting-edge experimental arthouse to colorful stories for families and kids, Kaboom will cater to the animation needs of all. Yes, even yours, my amazing weirdo friend!
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