Introduction

Series Programme

From the start, Cinekid has embraced episodic productions as part of its programming, showcasing the latest productions by Dutch broadcasters. With the contemporary media landscape quickly evolving and new platforms and producers constantly popping up, Cinekid keeps track of all the new developments to curate the best new serial productions from the Netherlands and abroad. We are very proud to collaborate with a wide array of platforms, producers and networks to once again provide a Series programme jam-packed with exciting premieres of new episodic content.

Pre-school animations galore

Every year, Cinekid collaborates with Dutch television networks, providing international premieres for their new series. Dutch TV productions are very highly regarded worldwide and many will afterwards be selected for international festivals or even acquired by foreign broadcasters. These premieres provide the public and attending industry professionals with a unique opportunity to experience the best new episodic productions for the first time, often together with the attending cast and crew. This year, our youngest audience members are especially lucky, because many new pre-school animation series will take a bow at the festival. Old favourites Rusty and Pim & Pom are back with new adventures, while Mister Paper returns with all its ‘carton’ shenanigans as a series, after the pilot was part of the short film competition in 2018. The highly anticipated, inclusive series Anansi the Spider – loosely based on traditional Caribbean fairy tales about the cunning spider who outsmarts its enemies – will also premiere in Amsterdam. Cinekid will go on to promote the series in the Netherlands in cooperation with its producer and Dutch broadcaster. A compilation of episodes will travel to the circa 30 cinemas across the Netherlands participating in our nationwide festival.

Special events

We are very grateful for the continued trust of platforms and filmmakers, and their willingness to keep collaborating with us to create unique events for the festival. This year, we are proud to continue our collaboration with Netflix and will be presenting the world premiere of their new Dutch original Misfit – The Series, which will continue the story of the three teen feature films that previously screened at the festival. We are also excited to start working with ZappDoc, the Dutch public broadcaster of short documentaries, to present a special one-off event at which we revisit youth documentaries from previous Cinekid editions with their subjects in attendance. We are also very happy to be able to showcase the immensely successful Dutch comedy series Floor Rules just before the start of its final season, as well as having its talented cast present their favourite episodes in person. Finally, we look forward to taking a small step out of our comfort zone by organising an extraordinary live event inspired by the popular youth detective podcast Sara’s Mysteries.

As you can see, the series programming this year is brim-full with high profile premieres, special events and one-time-only opportunities. I encourage everyone to take a chance and explore the broad, diverse landscape of contemporary episodic media.

Erik Tijman

Head of Film & Series