Animation is growing! New courses and schools pop up everywhere, and that in turn causes an almost exponential growth in animation films. More and more people start to take notice of animation as an adult art form, instead of a cheap excuse for a babysitter. Even though Internet has made it easier to access and view animation from around the globe, not enough offbeat animated fare graces the big screens in our creative capital Amsterdam and the rest of the country.
We started the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival to change that.

The history of KLIK!

KLIK! has its roots in our sister festival, the KLIT Multimedia Festival in Gent, Belgium, which was organized in 2004 & 2005 by students of the animation course at the Royal Academy for Fine Arts. The return of one of the organizers to his Amsterdam roots planted the seed for a successful new branch.

2007
Scores of animation lovers enjoyed animation, performances and a spectacular party at de Nieuwe Anita, Filmhuis Cavia and Ketelhuis on the first Dutch edition, september 15th, 2007.

2008
On the second edition, KLIK! moved to filmtheatre Kriterion and extended to three days: from the 12th until the 14th of September about 1400 visitors enjoyed animation in the KLIK! atmosphere.

2009
KLIK!'s unbridled urge to animate also expressed itself throughout the year by cooperating with other festivals. In the beginning of 2009, KLIK! travelled to Russia to screen Best of KLIK! animation programs in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizny Novgorod and the Ukraine.

Together with the Balkan Snapshots Film Festival, Rated X and Subbacultcha!, KLIK! resurrected the Midnight Movie phenomenon with the NACHTKINO initiative in Kriterion.

The festival expanded to a four day extravaganza spanning four locations in Amsterdam and our satellite edition in Mopti, Mali, attracting around 3000 visitors.

KLIK! today

In 2010 KLIK! has grown to a festival with an international reach, with satellite editions and festival tours around the globe.

This year KLIK! will consolidate its growth, focusing on professionalising its organisation and building on the successes of the previous editions. We continue to reach out to third parties, like-minded festivals and we're always on the lookout for new locations and events, whether right under our noses in Amsterdam as well as abroad. For this year's theme, we'll focus on the wonderful and weirdly disturbing realms of Science!

KLIK!'s mission statement

KLIK! sets out to show that animation is the most vital and widespread cultural phenomenon known to man.