FESPACO's 50th Edition and the first ever Rencontres Africanes du Film d'Animation

This year's FESPACO saw the addition of a 5-day animation workshop program that included mentoring, training and pitching as its themes. Amongst the attendees was Mohamed Ghazala, the Egyptian animation and new vice-president of ASIFA, Cilia Sawadogo, the Burkinabe animator based at Concordia, the Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Moise Toure who established the first animation school in Dakar, and enthusiastic animators from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Tunisia and Madagascar.

The winning prize was awarded to Comfort Arthur from Ghana, known for her animation 'Black Barbie' (2016).

Pawit Raogo et la vielle menteuse - a Franco-Burkinabe Production

JPL Productions have recently announced the premiere of the Franco-Burkinabe animation Pawit Raogo et la vielle menteuse  by Jean Pierre Tardivel (animator and ex-professor from Goblins Animation School) and Burkinabe Andre Daniel Tapsoba. The coproduction between JPL, Pit Productions and Veenem Films is the result of a collaboration between two artists and was screened at Ouagadougou's 24th Edition of the Pan-African Film Festival FESPACO.

The film would be preceded with a short documentary screening on Animation in Burkina Faso by Patrick Barraud.

You can read more about this charming animation at filmsenbretagne

More information about animation in Burkina Faso can be found on the ABCA (Association Burkinabe du Cinema d'Animation)

Call for Support: AFROGAMES an animated series from Burkina Faso

The pitch for an animated series developed in Burkina Faso, AFROGAMES is being launched as an Indiegogo project that aims to raise $18,000 dollars to develop the series. The first episode of the animation was developed with the aid of the Danish Centre for Culture and Development. The animation is described as:

An original animated series made in Burkina Faso, that shares tales of African society through the eyes of five children and their passion for African games.

Five children of different backgrounds team up through diverse games from African soil  and use them to solve problems. 

Please click on AFROGAMES to support this project. 

resources for discussions on African animation.... IMAGINAFRIK

IMAGINAFRIK is a great online resource/ community of individuals interested, talking about and making African animation. Whilst it is mostly in French, google translate does a good job of translating to the relevant language of your choice. The discussions in the forum are varied from South Africa to Burkina Faso, in places with inserted videos to watch. Its a treasure trove of topical discussions and worth exploring...



a little discovery made somewhere in the trails of discussions...

AIM 2012 exciting frontiers... Modern Africa

This years Africa in Motion which has extended to two cities Edinburgh and Glasgow, is sure to provide exciting new material to look out for on the African film front. To talk about see past festival director and festival chair, Lizelle Bisschoff






Of particular interest look out for

Kenyan - Ngendo Mukii's Yellow Fever (2012)
Ethiopian - Danny Gebeyehu & Bisrat Amare Abeba and Abebe: The Pepper Merchant (2011)
Burkinabe - Lazare Sie Pale Le Parain (2011)
Kenyan - (Bob) Muchiri Njenga  Kichwateli (2011)