Edition 2025 of animation festival Kaboom opens with the now familiar animation walk in Utrecht and in Amsterdam with the Japanese competition film Totto-Chan. There is a special focus on Belgian animation and this year's acclaimed Masaaki Yuasa is artist in focus. But if you click on the programme on the website, it says something completely different at the top: Festival theme: provocation. That's curious enough for a zoom conversation with artistic director Aneta Ozorek.
Why and how provocation as a theme?
"First of all, of course, there is a tremendous amount happening in the world right now, and artists are reacting to that. We think animators are also very sensitive to that. Can provocative art contribute to social change or not? Those kinds of questions came into play. In our opinion, artistic statements and films that touch on aspects of society are still relevant for artists."
"An example is the film 404 page not found by Gina Kamentsky who we added to the programme at the last minute. She is a trans artist from the United States who has made a very angry short film about Trump's policies against transgender people."
"A second motive that came into play is that it is 60 years since the Provo movement emerged in Amsterdam. That has been of great influence in this always rebellious city where many opinions find a place. Do those actions from then still have something to say today? What would Provo protest and provoke against now, we wondered. That memory of Provo is not explicitly in the programme, but it did play a role."
Rebellious women
"That's how it all came together, and we decided to pick out one particular aspect: provocative women. Women who don't behave as expected. Rebellious women, angry women - some people still see that as provocation. We chose about four feature-length films in which such women play a role."
First, Ozorek mentions Belladonna of Sadness, a rediscovered 1973 Japanese classic, about a peasant girl who makes a pact with the devil to avenge herself on the men who abused and disowned her. The second is also a classic: the autobiographically inspired Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, about a rebellious adolescent in Iran who clashes with Khomeini's regime. A restored version in 4K resolution will be re-released soon.
Regret Mothers
In the recent taboo-breaking Dutch documentary Spijtmoeders, three courageous women talk about their struggles with motherhood. Maker Milou Gevers decided to protect the women by replacing their images with dolls, combined with creative animations depicting the women's inner tornness.
The fourth in Kaboom's provocation quartet is the rebellious girl in the Japanese animation Totto-Chan, the opening film of the Amsterdam section of Kaboom. A girl who is already showing that she is going to grow up to be someone who will always stand up for the weak, and who will not hide her dissatisfactions. We see a strong, rebellious woman in the making.
"We saw the relevance of screening these kinds of films recently when, on International Women's Day, as many as 20,000 women gathered on Dam Square to campaign for women's rights at a time when politics is once again moving in the wrong direction," Ozorek adds.
But in a time of increasing polarisation, should you provoke?
"Yes, that's a question we also addressed in the discussions beforehand. But the films we show provocation as a way of protesting against injustice. Failure of artists to respond would be hard to understand in this day and age. The reaction provoked by a provocation can spark a discussion that is less heated, that brings people around the table. Sometimes you have to make something sharp to open the door to conversations."
Protest signs
"With Provo in mind, we also played with the question of how provocative we ourselves want to be as a festival. So we came up with the idea of asking some artists to organise an animation protest. On the opening day at Eye, our volunteers will line up with a protest sign prior to the performance, so that every line of people waiting becomes a small demonstration. In Utrecht, they will also be there during the Opening Walk, but because it will be dark by then it will be less noticeable."
"In addition, on opening day at Eye, the Groningen-based WERC Studio will present an installation in the foyer. On the wall we see the image of a city projected, and there is a payment system that, when people put money into it, drops bombs on that city. The more money, the more bombs. A direct illustration of how our money is used for all the bombs that are falling worldwide."
And besides politics, can the form of animation be provocative?
"Yes definitely. The provocation programme also includes many short films. For instance, there is the block Punk It Louder, with films that are rebellious or provocative in appearance. Films that play with aesthetic norms and expectations. Like, for example 1st Day & Next Minute by Denmark's Sara Koppel. A film made entirely on its own terms and outside the system of funds. An auteur completely doing her own thing in her own unpolished style. Another is the Polish animation A Border Guard and His Dog by Pablo Martinez Ballarin. In a crudely sketched, punky style and with a bizarre sense of humour, he responds to the refugee crisis on the Polish border."
Could it be that animation is ideally suited to rebellious art?
"I thought about that a lot when working on this edition. Actually, it's funny how quickly you can create an animation protest with a medium that is actually very slow. Because before you have created something you can be a few months down the line. But with digital developments, that is changing and these days we see a lot of animation responses to everything that happens in the world."
"There was a whole wave of Ukrainian animated gifs against Putin, often very funny, playful and rebellious. Part of the digital cultural struggle on the internet, as in the protest against the pro-life movement. Just as Polish animators also made animations as a protest against the restriction of abortion rights in Poland. Nowadays, animation can react very quickly."
Propaganda
"But also when I think back to the early days of animation. Initially it was mainly entertainment, but soon it was also used as a political medium, for instance to encourage people to join the army. During World War II, it was a medium for politics and propaganda on both sides. Van den Vos Reynaerde is an anti-Semitic animated film of the time."
"The power of animation is that it speaks a universal language. By using imagery, symbolism and metaphors, an animation can speak out against oppression and dictatorship in general, rather than a specific dictator. This allows you to tell more universal stories that are equally well understood in China as in Russia or Brazil. Animation is one of the most universal languages for talking about political issues."
And finally, what are this edition's programme elements that Aneta Ozorek is especially looking forward to?
"I am a big fan of the work of Japanese animator Masaaki Yuasa, so I am looking forward to his master class and subsequent screening of his iconic Mind Game. Something I would also love to see on the big screen is the short film Ubu in the punk selection Punk It Louder. If you find yourself more confused by the surrealism of reality every day, maybe it's time to watch this adaptation of the theatrical barrage of Alfred Jarry's classic work Ubu Roi."
"And I am also thinking about the panel we are organising entitled Should We Screen This Old Racist Stuff?. The history of animated film is full of creative finds and memorable characters, but there are also racial stereotypes. Can you still show these, and if so, should you warn audiences about them? And if not, what to do with this legacy? After the discussion, the audience will be allowed to make a statement. I'm very curious."
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