WIA Selects Five Teams for 2025 Stories X Women Program

Today, WIA (Women in Animation) announced the five teams selected for the 2025 cohort for Stories x Women, a program aimed at increasing the diversity of voices in animation globally. Stories x Women’s concrete goal is to support access to international opportunities for women animators from emerging national film and audio-visual animation communities of Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America who want to tell their authentic stories. The program is run in collaboration with FIAPF and sponsored by The Walt Disney Company and UNESCO.

These talented creatives will benefit from a series of mentoring sessions led by internationally acclaimed animation experts, as well as 1:1 coaching sessions that will prepare them to pitch their projects in the upcoming 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Market (MIFA), including as part of the MIFA Pitching Sessions. The teams will be conducting their pitches on Tuesday, June 10 from 9 a.m. to 10:15 p.m. CEST in the Impérial Palace in the Haendel Room.

The program this year received 114 eligible applications this round from more than 100 different countries with the following breakdown:

• 40 African countries
• 48 Latin American countries
• 26 Asia-Pacific countries

The selected delegations are (listed in alphabetical order by project):

Better City – Brazil. A project led by Fernanda Bruna Capozzoli (with Sara Tenti)

• • • Adult Comedy Series (10 x 25′)
    • Doris, a young rabbit-woman, struggles to start life from scratch in Better City. As she finds new friendships, a despotic delivery app and a rigged social system stand in the way.

The Brains – Turkey. A project led by Idil Sukan

• Kids & Young Teens Adventure-Comedy Series (26 x 24′)
• When anything is possible, figuring out your place in the universe is the most impossible thing of al. A comedy show about six genius aliens and their puppy travelling on a spaceship shaped like a brain, making sense of what family really means in the face of the infinite possibilities of the universe … Just one issue: They’re all teenagers.

Condenaditos – Bolivia. A project led by Matisse Gonzalez Jordan

• Teens & Young Adults Feature (80′)
• Upon inheriting her family’s curse, Kiki sets out to confront their dark legacy, forcing her unrepentant grandfather — a former dictator — to face his victims, thus risking the bonds of her family, to break free from the cycle of guilt and shame that sustains the curse.

Jinnbusters – India. A project led by Yusra Shahid

• Kids (6-11) Fantasy-Adventure Series (11′ episodes)
• When folklore-inspired creatures threaten to disrupt daily life, the Jinnbusters are called in —  an eclectic club of young misfits headed by the adventurous Noor, who must tackle mischievous spirits, solve supernatural mysteries and restore balance to their small South Asian town, one spooky adventure at a time.

Nerve – South Africa. A project led by Tshepo Moche (with Renee van Reenen)

• Supernatural Horror Anthology Series (10 x 22′)
• Nerve is an animated anthology that draws on the genre of horror to express the experiences of female-bodied women in fictional worlds where reality, history, folklore, science fiction, urban legend and the supernatural intersect.

Stories x Women was open to teams that included at least one woman leading the project (e.g., producer, director or screenwriter).

“As our Stories x Women program enters its fourth year, we are incredibly proud of its continued impact in spotlighting the voices of talented women animators across Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America,” said Marge Dean, WIA President. “These diverse and authentic stories deserve to be heard and told by those who create them. I am deeply grateful for the unwavering support from Disney and UNESCO, whose collaboration is essential in advancing gender parity and fostering growth in animation worldwide.”

Meredith Roberts, executive vice president of Television Animation at Disney Branded Television, agreed, “Truly great storytelling has the power to inspire and connect with audiences globally. By championing women in animation through programs like Stories x Women, we help ensure that our industry will continue to tell stories with universal appeal that reflect the richness of the world around us.”

womeninanimation.org