Nigerian Animator Wins At NAICCON Animation Du Monde

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.