Okoye's The Legacy of the Rubies

The Nigerian animator Ebele Okoye has just released the trailer for her twenty-five minute 2D animation - The Legacy of the Rubies. The synopsis as described on Okoye's website describes the story of...

Mfalme is a young forest boy whose life suddenly turns upside down as he is kidnapped and brought to a strange kingdom with the claim that he is the blood son of the dying king Obankos

You can see all of Okoye's contributions to African Animation at http://ebeleokoye.com/ or http://www.shrinkfish.eu/

Online Africa Political Cartoons

A fantastic resource on African Cartoons - this website collects a range of African political cartoons presented as in an Encyclopedia on the subject. 

Tejumola Olaniyan's  http://africacartoons.com/ also includes blog posts, maps, links to other resources, and an index of cartoonists. 

Animation Festivals in Morocco

As I currently work away on a chapter for a book on Arab animation, my research into Moroccan animation has come up with some exciting examples... for those interested in getting a flavour of animation from Morocco, and a wider international lineup of artists have a look at the festivals FICAM in Meknes and Casanim in Casablanca.

Ghana's Children's Animated Series Anokye

The animated series Anokye: The Truth of Destiny presents the story of ' the adventures of the young magician Anokye and his best friend Prince Osei as they battle to free the people from the evil King and save the sacred forest' it is currently in production in Ghana. Producer Akua Ofosuhene has launched a kickstarter project that details the series can can be found here Anokye

Kenyan Digital Creatives Rock!

Whilst not only featuring animation, this short trailer features a bunch of Kenyan artists that are straddling different forms of art and engaging with a range of digital technologies... including Kaggia, Just a Band, Bob Muchiri and others...

Check out Stocktown's  trailer for Afripedia on Kenya

Afripedia Kenya trailer from Stocktown on Vimeo.

Motion Capture Suite in Kigali, Rwanda

Africa Digital Media Academy in Kigali announced the arrival of its Motion Capture Suite (the first of its kind) on September 22nd. The academy that employs Kenyan animator Alfred Muchilwa as their lead animation instructor. This is the third country on the continent following Nigeria and South Africa to secure these facilities, with a view to contribute to the growth of the creative industries in this sector.
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Animation Training in Dakar

BBC World News - 'Embracing Animation in Africa' ran a story on a new initiative based in Dakar that uses EU funding to train 10 African artists in animation. The artists come from various countries including Senegal, Mali, Madagascar, Congo and Comor...Their work includes 2D and 3D animation and upon completion they will return back to their countries with seed funding to make their own films. You can watch the video at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-29009063?SThisFB

Politicised Creativity PAWA254

Kenya's Creative Hub for political and social action through the arts and digital media is mobilising Kenyan youth through different workshops. Amongst their very comprehensive lineup, they included some animation workshops by Allan Mwaniki on 9th August 2014 - title Pencil to Pixels - this is one of a series in collaboration with the Association of Animation Artistes Kenya.

Check out PAWA254!

Mike Scott's animated interjections on music video....

South African animator Mike Scott recently announced the release of this music video for his brother's band... in his words... it's pretty Kiff!

Interview with Jean Michel Kibushi

Winners for BUSTED 2014 - Well Done All!

Well Done to all those involved in the A3 BUSTED Animation Competition - the entries were great!
Here are some pictures of the winners receiving their prize...
Congratulations

First place -  Rabii Kinyogoli 

Second place -  AMP 

Third place -  Addmaya

Honourable Mention, Kiss and Tell by Domestic Disturbance. 

Honourable Mention, Police Busted, By Alex Kirui.

and lots more great animations!

A3 Kenya Launch their Animation Competition - 'BUSTED'

The Kenyan Association of Animation Artists (A3) Organisation is launching a great 30 Second Competition under the theme BUSTED. The prizes are great incentive to get on board 100,000 Kenyan Shillings (1200 USD) for the first prize. Anyone can apply and upload their work online... the deadline is coming up soon 25th of May and I am excited to see the entries. For more information you can contact the Association of Animation Artists Kenya on their Facebook page

'Outcasts of Jupiter' by the Coker Cooperative

Coker Coop are launching their kickstarter project the super slick and sexy 'Outcasts of Jupiter' a comic book... check out Kenneth Coker's digital sculpts as well.

AfricandigitalArt does TED Talks

African Digital Art founder Jepchumba gives a great account of the start of the website AfricaDigitalArt at TEDtalks The site includes a collection of members interested in African Digital Art, including a group on African Animation.

animated shorts, social networking, and lots of determination... Kenyan animation by MMuthiga and Fatboy Animation

Micheal Muthiga's animated shorts have been regularly featuring on social media circles garnering an online following sufficient to encourage him to start up his own animation company Fatboy Productions in Nairobi, Kenya. Muthiga worked on the Tinga Tinga Tales series before setting up his company. He has his own Youtube Channel where you can watch his collection of shorts, at mmuthiga. 

Here is an interview with him about his journey on NTV's AMLive 



You can also read the Business Daily story about his company and animations run on Feb 06 2014.

Archiving African Animation - FCAT

Although this archive is not strictly an archive for animation, and includes film. The FCAT film archive includes a healthy selection of African animation. FCAT also runs a yearly African Film Festival in Cordoba. This archive is an important addition to bodies that are preserving and documenting African animation.

You can see the list of all films and animations at FCAT


These include

Animación (69)

• Ma Gaal Dikhan
• 21ème Siècle
• A mãe dos netos
• Agaïssa
• Anomalías eléctricas
• Blad schizophrène
• Bon Voyage Sim
• Carnet noir
• Champion
• Cortos animados egipcios
• Ding Dong
• Down Rising
• El viaje de Saïd
• Famila
• Fleur de pierre
• Forest Chainsaw Massacre
• Fragment de vie
• Give Me Spray
• Guess Who's Coming for Dinner
• HM HM
• Honayn's Shoe
• Humburgun
• J'ai bu du café dans un café
• Ki l'ambouba
• Kinshasa Septembre noir
• Kirikou et la sorcière
• Kirikou et les bêtes sauvages
• Kokoa
• Krash
• L'Ami y'a bon
• L'Arbre aux esprits
• L'Arrêt du bus
• L'enfant Roi
• L'Enfant terrible
• L'Île
• La cita
• La Ruse du lièvre
• Le crapaud chez ses beaux-parents
• Le Guerbag
• Le Quotidien des automates
• Le Voyageur
• Les aventures de Guédé
• Les Deux Souris blanches
• Lie / Les Coulisses de lie
• L’Enfant Roi
• Maalesh
• Madagascar, Carnet de voyage
• Muana Mboka
• Naissance
• One and Five
• Oni Ise Owo
• Prince Loseno
• Rakire
• Revolution
• Ryeh
• Sacou Wala Bouteil
• Salade
• Samba le grand
• Samurai song
• Shiku Song
• Sopo
• Sur les murs de la ville
• Tengers
• The Tale of How
• Tiga au bout du fil
• Tiga guérisseur
• Trip
• Varavarankely
• Warda

2D Animation... All about Kenya: Made in Kenya

Kwame Nyongo's animation for EU and Kenya

Democracy, Internet and Just a Band....

The New York Times recently ran a story about the rise of a new generation of artists in Kenya like the particular band... collective... artists... known as Just a Band who straddle the popular and high art seamlessly moving across different spaces. Their rise in part has been facilitated by the Internet and related technologies and you can view all of their work on Youtube Channel JustABandWidth.
To read the article and watch an interview with Daniel and Bill see: The New York Times