The Pan-African Animation du Monde 2020 season is in full swing. The second leg of this year’s competition completed at the end of May at DISCOP Abidjan. The winners, now preparing for the Continental Finals taking place at DISCOP Johannesburg later this year, are:
The Oil of Amadi by Matthew Brown (South Africa) and Harrison Yinfaowei (Nigeria)
Tchamba by Doh D. Daiga (Burkina Faso)
Orisha Pikin by Archange Kiyindou (Republic of the Congo)
Animation du Monde has had a huge impact on the African animation landscape in the three years that it has been run by the African Animation Network through a partnership with DISCOP Markets and Annecy Int’l Animated Film Festival & Market/MIFA. In this time, the quality of projects presented continues to improve as creators make the most of the opportunity to compete on an international stage.
Apart from being the place where the first Pan-African Animation du Monde pitches were held in 2017, DISCOP Abidjan plays a pivotal role in reaching the Francophone African creative community. At the moment, it is the only leg of the competition that takes place in a Francophone African country and has also been the launch pad for the contest into West Africa in the last two years.
The call for the third preliminary round at the Accra Animation Film Festival — the first time the pitch competition will be held in Ghana, connecting Animation du Monde to the country’s rich history of animation and artistry — is open until y July 12. Video pitches will be accepted for those not able to attend. However, candidates who are able to attend the event will be given preference. Submissions here.
AAFFIA is joining a growing number of festivals playing an important role in raising the global profile of African animation, such as the Festival international du cinéma d’animation de Meknès/FICAM in Morocco (started in 2001), Cape Town International Animation Film Festival/CTIAF in South Africa (launched in 2011 as Kunjanimation & rebranded in 2015 as CTIAF), African Animation Network’s FUPiTOONS FESTiVAL (launched in 2017; toured 9 countries in 2018 and 11 countries in 2019; Africa’s biggest animation short film festival) and Festival du Film d’Animation d’Abidjan/FFAA (launched in 2018).
“In my experience as an animation producer as well as working with creatives and animators across Africa, it is imperative to know your project’s ins and outs. Too many animation projects start out as passion projects and never see completion because the director or the team involved have lost track of the initial framework along the way,” said AAFFIA founder Diana Rosu. “Annecy and Animation du Monde are setting the bar high for animation industries that are still malleable and are now defining themselves and that’s an excellent way to ensure that they become competitive on the global market.”
Animation du Monde and AAFFIA provide creatives with opportunities to have their short film project, series concept, or feature length movie seen by the world while it is still in its incubation phase. This is something that hadn’t existed for one of Africa’s most celebrated animation filmmakers, Ghanaian local (and FUPiTOONS FESTiVAL Director) Comfort Arthur. Her movie Black Barbie has traveled to over 50 international film festivals and garnered much acclaim despite a dearth of opportunities like these at the time.
“It’s not just about winning at the Animation du Monde pitching competition but, it’s also about learning how to pitch and get better,” Arthur noted. “Many creatives in Africa have great ideas but are not good pitchers! Since I took part in the first edition in 2017, my pitching skills have improved and I have learned so much about how to best present my projects to potential investors.”
[Source: African Animation Network]
