Yesterday EYE drew a full house to witness the spectacular opening of the fifth edition of the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival. The sparkling theatre making collective Firma Zwakstroom took over the EYE arena for a hilarious, multi-disciplinary performance in which pantomime, location theatre and animation joined forces.

After the performance, the attendees were ushered inside the monumental main screening room of EYE for speeches by creative director Yvonne van Ulden and founder Dario van Vree, as well as the official theatrical première of the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival 2012 Leader, made by Joost Lieuwma, Patrick Schoenmaker and Lukas Krepel.

Our gracious host Roloff de Jeu also introduced not one, but two world premières: Johan Klungel’s long awaited film Super, in which a commited consumer discovers the dark side of his local supermarket as well as the very best of the Animation Sequence Project. The winner of the Russian Audience Award was Kiekje by Arthur van Merwijk and Daan Velsink.

Watching all these animated gems sure makes you work up a mighty appetite, but naturally you don’t want to leave the comfy confines of EYE and miss out on any films. That’s why, together with the EYE Bar-Restaurant, we've arranged KLIK! Dish, a daily supper for the low, low price of €10.

KLIK! Dish is available from Thursday to Sunday, between 17h30 and 19h30. Every day there’s a different KLIK! Dish, serving up typically Dutch suppers, of course in both meaty as well as vegetarian flavours. KLIK! for more info.

KLIK! to watch the official festival leader for this year's KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival!

The leader will open every single festival program – so come watch it full screen (and by that we mean the big cinema screen at EYE, not your full computer screen)!

KLIK! festival leaders are labors of love, lubricated by blood (obviously), sweat, tears and other bodily fluids we dare not mention but most of all, they come about through teamwork. We are proud to reveal that the festival leader for our Fifth Edition was the result of by an awe-inspiring effort by the Magnificent Three: Joost Lieuwma, Patrick Schoenmaker and Lukas Krepel. They’re playing for the Home team – back in 2010, Patrick won the KLIK! Student Award while Joost took home the Amsterdam Audience Award. Together these three Bad Boys are in the running for the Grand KLIK! Prize this year with Snapshot, an animated short they worked on together. To top it all off, Joost has an extra shot at a prize with his film How Dave & Emma Got Pregnant in competition.

We at KLIK! would like also to give a gigantic shout out to all the other Dutchies who lent their talents to the leader: the incredible intern Florian Walraven, Arno de Grijs for his 3D water management, Jorrit Kleijnen and Alexander Reumers for supplying the brilliant music and Erik Griekspoor for his expert handling of sound.

Dutchie Arent Benthem from studio in60seconds asked creative minds worldwide to unleash their creativity on a single square in a 10 second burst, under the name Animation Sequence Project.

Today the co-creation project contains 300+ entries, all made by animators spending their free time – yes, really – animating. The whole sequence will be presented on a screen in EYE’s arena during KLIK!, showcasing the current state of the art in animation worldwide. Also, the most surprising entries will screen for the very first time at KLIK!’s festive opening.

The festival's 2012 program is online! Over 60 programs will give you a versatile overview of how animated works can be a ravishing, intriguing and substantial form of expression: from the animated oeuvre of renowned South African artist William Kentridge to the legacy of Cartoon Network and [adult swim] including the recent hit series Adventure Time, and from this year’s 3-D animated shorts competition supported by Nintendo to the Dutch premiere of the macabre musical Le Magasin des Suicides.

Check out the detailed international competitions, this year’s theme program on violence, extra film programs, the Friday noon for pro’s, kids programs and events for an in depth reconnaissance. Be sure to scope out your tickets and absorb essential practical info. Also take a gander at this year's jury and the awards that are at stake in the KLIK! competitions during the festival. Last but not least read our klikiquette thoroughly to discover the secret of 'klikking'.