The official opening program of the Holland Animation Film Festival (HAFF), the largest animation festival in the Netherlands, is announced. Out of the 450 films HAFF has selected nine short films for the opening night, including the surprising puppet animation and BAFTA winner Edmond from Dutch director Nina Gantz and the world premieres Before Love by Igor Kovalyov (RU) and Ticking Away by Michael Sewnarain (NL). The opening of HAFF 2016 will take place on Wednesday March 16 at the new cinema CineMec Utrecht “de Sterrenkijker" in Leidsche Rijn Centre. For the first time, this year the opening of the HAFF is also open to the public.

Gerben Schermer, directeur Holland Animation Film Festival:“Specially for the opening, we have made a selection from the festival offerings for our audience. We are proud that many filmmakers are present at the official opening. It promises to be a dazzling evening with world premieres, award-winning directors and award winning films."

Opening program
The opening program of HAFF 2016 consists of nine short films. A few highlights from the program: Edmond, the much debated graduation film from the Dutch Nina Gantz at the National Film and Television School and recent winner of the Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival and a BAFTA, is a surprising puppet animation in which Edmond looks back on his life and his great loves. Also, the world premieres Before Love by Igor Kovalyov (RU) and Ticking Away by Michael Sewnarain (NL) will be screened. Before Love is an intriguing, melancholic reflection on loneliness and misunderstanding. Ticking Away is a masterly cartoon about a watchmaker who is offered a quirky watch for repair.

The other selected films in the opening program are Six Portraits of Clara Schumann (Stuart Pound, UK, 2015), Mirror (Chris Ware, USA, 2015), Chez Moi (My Home) (Phuong Mai Nguyen, FR, 2015), Little Girl(Steven Subotnick, USA, 2016), Velodrool (Sander Joon, Estonia, 2015) and If I Was God (Cordell Barker, Canada, 2015).

Prior to the screening of nine short films the Vakprijs for Dutch Animation will be awarded and the nominations for the Grand Prix for Dutch animation will be announced.

Practical information
The opening of the Holland Animation Film Festival will take place on Wednesday March 16th 2016 at 8:30 pm in CineMec Utrecht “de Sterrenkijker" in Leidsche Rijn Centre. Tickets for the opening costs €12.50 (including a drink). Tickets are available through CineMec, www.cinemec.nl (visitors must select Location Utrecht). Ticket sales for the Holland Animation Film Festival will start from March 3; from that day on, tickets for the opening night are also available through www.haff.nl.