African Animated Film and Series

Catalog description

Animation is one of the fastest growing mediums in African screen media productions today. Driven by young creators who have for the most part learned the art of animation from online tutorials as well as being inspired by the manga culture, these animators enjoy more freedom in exploring topics and artistic expression than their live-action cinema counterparts. African animation is diverse and exciting: From shorts to feature animated films, documentary and fiction, commissioned and non-commissioned productions, television animation series and adult content, and experimental and mainstream, or using animation techniques of stop-motion, 2D, and 3D. To study African animation is to look at Africa through new lenses, examine the continent's relation to the world, technological development in film and media, and questions of racial and minority representations. Animation like gaming, virtual and augmented reality are ever present and defining our today's mediated experience through screens and relationships to others. The course takes you on a discovery journey, from Moustapha Alassane, the father of African animation, the Congolese Jean Michel Kibushi, the South African William Kentridge, to the talent of the current generation whose work features in Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire (2023), an anthology of Africanfuturist animated short film series distributed Disney+ and was produced by South Africa-based Triggerfish studios.