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).

Sitraka Randriamahaly... Malagasy animator

Sitraka Randriamahlay has shown work at various international animation festivals. You can view his animations on his Vimeo channel here. The animation below is Hazalambo(2013)

hazalambo(lambo hunt) from sitraka randriamahaly on Vimeo.

And Rough Life (2015) that was shown at the Rencontres du Film Court de Madagascar For more information about the Malagasy cinema and the culture of filmmaking see the Artists on Africa interview with Laza the festival director.

AOA Season 1 | Episode 6 | Laza on "The Cinema of Generation RFC" from Artists on Africa on Vimeo.

Madagascar animation at Annecy

Although little is known about animation from Madagascar, in 2015 Annecy showcased the cut-out animation L’Oranger d’Itrimobe by Sitraka Randriamahaly. A quick search for Randriamahaly suggests that there are other practitioners and artists in animation.


The Musee Dapper's showcase of Madagascar films (Friday 24th June, 2016)  lists two animations:

• Le Soleil se lève...puis se couche, de Jiva Eric Razafindralambo, animation, 8 min, 2005
Dès l'aube, un homme, accompagné de son zébu, reprend le travail commencé le jour d'avant.

• Iny Hondo izy Ravorona (La berceuse), de Sitraka Randiamahaly, animation, 10 min, 2012
Un enfant naît dans un petit village au coeur de la forêt. Il pleure, rit, joue et grandit. Mais, un jour, il tombe malade. Prix Dan-Faso du meilleur film africain d'animation, Fespaco 2013

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

Madagascar new generation animation...

A recent search of the more recent film festivals on the continent, of note the Luxor International Film Festival, The Comoros Film Festival and the Madagascar Film Festival list a host of new young emerging animators from Madagascar... headlining 
Sitraka Randriamahaly, Andry Rarivonandrasana and Ridha Andriantomanga