A Celebration of Unusual Animation at The Arcade Hotel
On Thursday 7th December The Arcade Hotel near Sarphatipark in Amsterdam hosted a festive launch and preview animation screening to kick off this year’s Future Vision Festival. The preview featured a 30 minute compilation of shorts from France, USA, Canada, Turkey, Argentina and Germany, entitled The Net. Living up to their reputation of offering the best in geekdom and nerdhood, The Arcade Hotel also streamed the event live on The Metaverse. This was a taste of what’s to come in this month-long animation festival which programmes hundreds of films a year at multiple venues in Japan, The Netherlands and online.
Future Vision Festival started in 2020 as an exchange screening between animation students of Tama Art University in Tokyo and HKU in NL. This was facilitated by Fay Heady-Carroll, alumni of both universities, with the support of the Embassy of The Netherlands in Tokyo. ‘When we opened our call on Film Freeway we were absolutely blown away by the response. In the first year, we received over 3,000 film submissions from literally all over the world,’ says Fay. ‘A film came in from a young girl on an island in Micronesia, one was a brilliantly crafted story filmed on a phone in the backstreets of Delhi. We receive animation that uses a myriad of styles, techniques, materials and themes; a film made on a gameboy; a pacifist themed 3D animation from Russia, as well as highly skilled traditional work on paper such as Two Shoes by acclaimed Dutch animator Paul Driessen which we screened at Vrij Paleis last January. The programme is organized into themes which emerge from the work. We don’t impose these in advance. In this sense, FVF is an artist-led festival and it is truly fascinating to see the consensus and conversations that emerge between the films. We notice common stories and motifs trending in a particular year. It’s like a snapshot of the global psyche! One year, there were lots of films about rabbits. This year, it’s chickens! Today animation is absolutely burgeoning, exploiting ease of access to audiences online and cutting through national and political divisions. This is the most exciting time for new animation techniques since Winsor McCay was crafting this brand new medium back in the 1900s. Future Vision Festival lends an ear to these alternative voices, bringing together films and live audiences as well as showcasing cutting edge animation techniques, 360° VR films, games, installations and other animation relevant artworks.’
This year’s Future Vision Festival runs from December 2023 through January 2024, and spans venues in Tokyo and Amsterdam, on SALTO TV and online, all for free. If you like the sound of it, and happen to be in Tokyo on December 16th, make your way to SubStore in Koenji for the festival screening and exhibition there. The sister event in Amsterdam takes place at The Arcade Hotel on Saturday 6th January 2024 from 17.00 - 22.00. On Thursdays at 21.00 here in Amsterdam you can catch weekly half hour Future Vision Amsterdam episodes bursting with animated content on SALTO 1 TV from the comfort of your own bean bag, throughout the festival period. These episodes are also available via the festival website: futurevisionfestival.com where you can find the screening schedule along with details of all these amazing films direct from the zeitgeist of today’s animation creators worldwide.
Saturday January 6th 2024
17:00-17:30: HONG KONG School of Creative Media Programme
17:45-18:15: Tama Art University Tokyo Student Programme
18:30-19:00: HKU University of the Arts Utrecht Student Programme
19:15-19:45: Made In Japan Programme
20:00-20:30: AI & Humans International Programme
20:45-21:15: Love & War International Programme
21:15: Live Music & DJ/VJ
Future Vision Exhibition
360° VR Films
Moving Paintings
Kimono & Chibby Arcade Games
New Future Vision Festival Zine!
...and more artwork at the Future Vision Exhibition!
The Arcade Hotel
Sarphatipark 106 1073 EC Amsterdam
Future Vision festival website