African Animation Network

Nairobi Comic Con  recently hosted the pitch competition  Animation du Monde for the second year running. This year, East Africa produced a bumper crop of animation talent in the penultimate Animation du Monde 2020 preliminary round in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

However, as always, only 3 could be chosen to go through to the Animation du Monde 2020 African Continental Final taking place at DISCOP Johannesburg in November 2019.

The winners of the NAICCON Animation du Monde pitching competition reflect the range of talent from across Africa, with one winner from Kenya.

• Agent 254 by Lydia Mugure (Kenya)
• Rosa’s Diary by Ndanusa Danjuma Judah (Nigeria)
• The Fam by Kabelo Maaka (South Africa)

The Fam, by Kabelo Maaka had entered into a previous edition of Animation du Monde, and like so many other projects, Kabelo did not make it through to the continental final. Fortunately, Kabelo took the feedback the judges gave her and was able to improve her pitch, enabling her to win the day at NAICCON 2019.

One of the core missions of Animation du Monde is to teach creatives that it’s not the winning that matters as much as the journey.  The success of Kabelo Maaka in this latest round shows how failure can be part of the creative process. 

The final Sub Saharan preliminary round of Animation du Monde 2020 will take place at Lagos Comic Con, 19 – 21 September 2019

Africa’s developing animation industry, and its creatives are invited to use the opportunities presented by Animation du Monde in partnership with the African Animation Network. African creatives might have unique stories to tell, but we still have to develop our creative sensibilities and technical skills. The high-profile and well respected judges that sit on the Animation du Monde panels have helped many creatives and will continue to do so.

Subscribe to the AAN  newsletter and keep an eye on our Facebook page and website for news on when the preliminary rounds will be in your region!

African Animation Network (AAN) and DISCOP Markets announced, at a press conference at the recent DISCOP Joburg market, the official launch of DISCOMICS IQEMBU.

AAN’s core mission is to create a sustainable African animation industry and central to achieving this goal is industry related education. Through its work across the continent over a number of years, AAN has established a pan-African partner network of national animation associations, animation festivals and pop culture events that now includes (subsequent to an equity investment made by DISCOMICS) the three longest events in Africa – Nairobi Comic Con in Kenya, ICON Comic & Games Convention in Johannesburg and Lagos Comic Con in Nigeria.

DISCOMICS FOOTPRINT

Based on this inclusive network and DISCOP’s footprint of markets across the continent, DISCOMICS IQEMBU, with the support of key international industry partners – including Toonz Media Group, Baboon Animation and Toon Boom Animation – will drive forward a 3-pronged strategy.

The 3-pronged strategy announced last week includes the following:

DISCOMICS FUKAMELA – (incubate in isiZulu)

DISCOMICS SHESHISA – (accelerate in isiZulu)

DISCOMICS IQEMBU – (cluster or group in isiZulu)

INDUSTRY PARTNERS

Based in India, Toonz Media Group is a global leader in animation production producing over 10,000 mins of animation per year. Baboon Animation, based in New York, is a world leading animation IP development team having created Emmy Award Winning and Oscar nominated writing, directing, and design for over two decades. Toon Boom Animation, based in Montreal, Canada, is the leading 2D animation software service provider in the world today.

AAN will co-develop animation production curricula, including TOONZ ANIMATION FUKAMELA, and a specialised animation writing curriculum, BABOON ANIMATION FUKAMELA. When the partners are happy with the quality of the work produced, roughly after six months, the TOONZ ANIMATION SHESHISA and BABOON ANIMATION SHESHISA will launch. Both Toonz Media Group and Baboon Animation will supply service work to sustain the talent pool, pipeline, and infrastructure.

In partnership with Toon Boom Animation, AAN will co-develop a specialised 2D animation curriculum, TOON BOOM FUKAMELA. Inclusive of the TOON BOOM FUKAMELA will be training for the creative leads/trainers. Once these creative leads have finished their training, the TOON BOOM SHESHISA will launch, an internationally accredited TOON BOOM CENTER OF EXCELLENCE.

“India is arguably the global leader in animation production and we can think of no better partner than Toonz Media Group,” says Nick Wilson, head of Projects and Content at AAN and co-founder of DISCOMICS. “Furthermore, North America, and particularly the US, has been at the forefront of animation IP development since the inception of the animation industry. The plethora of Emmy Awards and Oscar nominations that the Baboon Animation team has been responsible for clearly illustrates that. And, having a global leading technology partner like Toon Boom, ensures we work to the highest global standards. We’re exceptionally proud to have these three partners in the DISCOMICS IQEMBU. The long-term future of African animation looks exceedingly healthy.”