The Netherlands Institute of Animated Film (NIAf) is – or was – an utterly unique organisation. Officially opened in September 1993, NIAF was a curious hybrid, intensely focused on supporting animation as an art form through a number of different activities.
At its core, however, was its focus on facilitating the production of short, auteur, animated films. This was its unshakable central mission. From the beginning, it set out to achieve this by becoming something that could perhaps be best described as a kind of school without a curriculum.
This programme is a spellbinding retrospective of highlights from the vaults of NIAF which was forced to close recently after 20 years of nurturing a generation of outstanding Dutch filmmakers. All the more reason to join us and NIAF Animators: Sjaak Rood (Coffee), Digna van der Put (Parade), Kris Genijn (History of Pets) and the main man himself – Ton Crone, who valiantly grabbed the NIAf baton and held it for twenty years!
At Barbican book tickets
Sientje (Christa Moesker, Netherlands)
Ear-splitting, wall punching, bed wrecking, teddy stomping, volcanic anger – and then the mood changes.
4’30, 1997
Jazzimation (Oerd Van Cuijlenborg, Netherlands)
A dreamlike jazz piano experience in which the spectator is forced to look with the ears and listen with the eyes
4’40, 1999
Stiltwalkers (Sjaak Meilink, Netherlands)
Amongst the shallows, a strange tribe silently arrives and proves themselves perfectly adapted for the shared environment.
12’50, 2002
Freaky (Mirjam Broekema, Netherlands)
“Kill The Boy”! Ah, the hilariously hypnotic power of television.
0’50, 2004
Hetrozychoot (Jeroen Hoekstra, Netherlands)
The amoebas are bustin’ out some moves – but there’s some massive micro jealously in the air tonight.
1’00, 2004
Shipwrecked (Frodo Kuipers, Netherlands)
A manic mini-epic that pits two crazed and starved individuals against each other as they desperately seek out what is most valuable to them.
5’15, 2005
Family Affairs (Paulien Bekker, Netherlands)
The product of a workshop lead by the legendary Phil Mulloy and complete with an experimental narration charting (apparently) one man’s quiet passion for his mother-in-law.
4’40, 2007
Jazzed (Anton Setola, Netherlands)
Deep in the seedy heart of the jazz district, things are jumpin’ and they are only going to get wilder as the night progresses.
4’45, 2008
(Ego) (Leevi Lehtinen, Netherlands)
Pull the camera back and a house of horrors is revealed; room upon room of quiet desperation looking for a voice. And yet, there are options aplenty.
9’50, 2011
Coffee (Sjaak Rood, Netherlands)
An over-caffeinated ballet of hyper-activity, brown in the centre with a good strong crema around the outside.
4’00, 2012
History Of Pets (Kris Genijn, Netherlands)
A prolonged dissection of one family’s speckled history of looking after a menagerie of fluffy and feathered domestic fauna.
3’55, 2013
Parade (Digna van der Put, Netherlands)
Six brassband flute players are going through the landscape of an uniform.
2015, 4’05
