The Afrimation Festival
This month some of the best animation work to emerge from the African continent is gathered together for Afrimation: The African Animation Festival.
Still from Toto's Journey © Godfrey Semwaiko 2005

Afrimation presents a collection of animated shorts from various African countries and features the retrospective works of renowned Congolese animator J.M. Kibushi .

While Africa’s art, music, literature and film have been exported across the world, less attention has been paid to the continent’s work in digital animation. Afrimation is an attempt to challenge common assumptions about the nature of animation and to offer an alternative perception to the predominant American or European counterpart.

This event features a collection of short animations from Kenya, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt and Zimbabwe. The animations vary in technique, aesthetic and narrative development. They address strong political and social issues, whilst retaining the playful quality of animation that appeals to our inner child. These animated shorts offer an alternative window into the themes of identity, social concerns, and culture.

The event, which takes place on Saturday October 20th at the School of Oriental & African Studies from 12noon, is screening animations such as Jozi Zoo by Mike Scott ; a playful short that uses humour to aptly depict some archetypal South African characters whilst being politically critical in a comic way.

Jozi Zoo alongside others presents some fascinating facets of the concerns of these film makers. Whether conceived as an educational animation or as an independent political piece, each animation uses the particularities of its form to illustrate the modern concerns to be found in various contemporary African countries.

The programme also includes a retrospective of Jean Michel Kibushi’s work, from the DRC. His work in stop-motion and cut-out animation presents some charming narratives that in part derive from traditional local Tetela tales, and also from the artist’s own personal experiences.

Interesting. I believe what we need is a company similar to Disney that will showcase only black characters focusing on ancient African cultures and black African people.

Missed this. Would have checked it out.. do they have a website by any chance?