AFRICA IN MOTION 2017 - Animation Galore

Another great contribution from the Africa in Motion team this year, with special screenings for animation from the continent, showing in Glasgow and Edinburgh. You can read all about this years selection of films and animations and an exhibition, African Film: Looking Back Through the Lens, which is definitely worth a visit!

Advertised as follows on the AIM website for Thursday the 2nd November at 6.30 at Woodland Creatures, 260-262, Leith Walk, Edinburgh EH6 5EL

AfriCA Animated 

This evening will bring you a selection of African animations from Egypt, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Martinique, Nigeria and South Africa. Animation has the extraordinary power to bring to life oral storytelling. The films cover a spectrum of stories, including hilarious propaganda, heroines of the past, mythical creatures, political and emotional issues such as LGBT identity, colourism, domestic abuse, and an annoying mosquito that just won’t buzz off. Each film showcases different styles and techniques such as stop-motion, 3D and hand-drawn animation. Some rarely-seen gems from as early as 1940 are also included in the context of our Africa’s Lost Classics project, to show that animation has a beautiful and long history on the African continent.

---

INCLUDED FILMS

• Because I Am
• Black Barbie
• Got Flowers Today
• Husse Met Lang Ore
• La Femme Mariée À Trois Hommes (The Woman Married To Three Men)
• La Princesse Yennega (Princess Yennega)
• Mosquito: The Bite of Passage
• National Defence
• Uilhuisie (Owl House)

MOMA and Moustapha Alassane

Between the 12 -15th of May, 2017 the MOMA hosted an exhibition on Moustapha Alassane, Pioneer of the Golden Age of Nigerien Cinema. The exhibition is the first 

'North American retrospective of Moustapha Alassane (1942–2015), a pioneer of populist cinema in newly independent Niger in the 1960s and 1970s, is presented in association with La Cinémathèque Afrique de l’Institut français.'

Moustapha Alassane is widely considered the father of Sub-Saharan animation and his contributions to the history of animation from the continent are seminal as they went on to inspire other animators such as Jean Michel Kibushi from the DRC.

#CollabNowNow - Opportunities for digital arists and storytellers on the continent

Great news from Jepchumba from AfricanDigitalArt - you can apply for this by clicking here: BritishCouncilConnect.ZA. This is one great project that animators in Africa should be looking out for... 

#ColabNowNow is looking for you: the artists, coders, architects, storytellers, bending your artform in the digital now for the NowNow.
British Council Connect ZA invites young digital storytellers and artists working in digital, from Southern Africa, East Africa, West Africa and the UK to take part in ColabNowNow. This platform for collaboration will showcase innovative digital work which will be shown during the Fak’ugesi Festival. The artists will partake in a 10 day programme curated by, Jepchumba, the founder and creative director of African Digital Art, and take part in the larger Fak'ugesi Festival programme.
Call for Artists10 artists working in the digital realm who will create work independently or collaboratively, to be shown at the Fak’ugesi Block Party. Artists include, but are not limited to: visual/graphic artists, architects, technical artists, programmers, music/sound artists, performers and animators.
Call for Digital Storytellers5 Digital Storytellers who will document and engage in the collaborative activities of the artists, telling the story to audiences in their respective countries. They are also encouraged to work with the artists. Digital storytellers include, but are not limited to: writers, photographers, videographers, bloggers and vloggers.

Eligible CountriesSouthern Africa: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Mauritius, and Namibia
East Africa: Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, Rwanda West Africa: Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Sierra Leone
United Kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland

This project will take place in conjunction with the Fakugesi Festival.

AFRIKA FILM FESTIVAL: Exhibition on Central African Animation

This year's AFRIKA Film Festival in Leuven was an exceptional year for African animation. It saw the the screening of the original film of The Tales of Mboloko (1953) by the Belgian Roger Jamar, the very first Congolese stop-motion animation. Alongside this screening was a documentary 'Roger Jamar et les palabres de Mboloko: Pionnier du cinema d'animation en Afrique Centrale', that offered an insight into the man who made these films and the context within which these were viewed.

One was also able to attend a days worth of screenings of different animation shorts, including the works of Nigerian animator Ebele Okoye and South African artist Wendy Morris.


The exhibition will be held at the Universiteitsbibliotheek, KU Leuven between 27th March and the 26th April, and features the charming models from JM Kibushi's own films, Prince Loseno (2005) and Ngando (WIP).

You can see more photos of the opening night on the Facebook event album: AFRIKA_Exhibition_Facebook

Ezra Wube makes his mark in Time Square

Ethiopian artist and animator has recently shown his work as part of the Time Square Public Art Project - Midnight Moments. In a similar vein to his other work, Ezra looks at journeys from places and through spaces.

kenyan animation blog...

For current information on the animation scene in Kenya and a great contribution to the blogosphere

kenyanimators makes for a welcome addition to online information about anything animation in Kenya...

KENYAN ANIMATORS PAVILION 

Check out the great post dated 29 July 2013, on this years National Film Conference and Exhibition in Nairobi 

Another Africa recommends....

on African arts and culture exhibitions in 2012 see: Another Africa