The Holland Animation Film Festival (HAFF) excitedly celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2004. The jubilee programme covered everything from exciting music videos, to hilarious cartoons, conventional films and spectacular computer animation. The HAFF is the only large animation festival in the Netherlands and numbered among the most important in the world in the field of animation.
The biennial international festival organizes competitions for short animation films, student films from Belgium and the Netherlands, animated commissioned films, and the AnyZone competition with a special youth jury. In addition to the presentation of recent films in the competition programmes, retrospectives, historic and thematic programmes, expositions, talk shows and master classes have been organized. The next edition, which promises a rich and interesting programme, will be held 1–5 November 2006. For more information, see: www.haff.nl
The competitions are the very heart and soul of the festival. 1384 films were submitted; 270 were selected. For the third time, the festival organized a competition for short animation films in the categories of narrative and non-narrative films. Grand Prix Awards are awarded in both categories. In this way the festival dedicates to non-narrative (and usually more cutting edge or vulnerable) animation the attention and prestige the artists and films deserve and often lack. The competition for short animation films received the most submissions: 970, of which 52 were selected. A number of films from the international competition for independent animation will be eligible for the AnyZone Award. The winners are included as short features in the national MovieZone programme, which is an educational film programme for youngsters and is screened in film theatres all over the Netherlands.
This is the case with Grand Prix Award winner for narrative shorts Ryan, which was also awarded an AnyZone Award. In, directed by Philipp Hirsch, won the Grand Prix Award for non-narrative films.
The festival has had a competition for applied animation since its first edition in 1985. The categories are: leaders (including bumpers and station calls), music videos, commercials and educational films. A prize is given in each category, with one Grand Prix for the best film out of all the categories. The competition for student films from the Netherlands and Belgium gives an overview of new talent. The Dutch Film Fund awards the winner a scholarship with which the student can rise to a higher level of professionalism and artistry. 529 (Five to Nine) won the student prize. Winning directors Niek Castricum and Maarten de With are realizing their prize at this very moment as it gave them the opportunity to do a work placement in a puppet studio in New York.
The Holland Animation Film Festival is pleased to present a special programme with its last edition’s prize winners at the International Animation Festival Animateka 2005. After a slight decrease, probably due to the economical halt, we have recently again seen a boom in the field of applied animation. Probably due also to the access to new media, animation is getting more popular by the year. Striking was the increased number, quality and variety of the submitted work for the Holland Animation Film Festival 2004. These highlights thus present the state of the art of commissioned or so-called applied animation. Often made for the small television screen, now the richness and details will be magnified. Enjoy on the silver screen, the best commercials, leaders, educational films and animated music videos from the recent years!
Erik van Drunen