Africa Animated!

This project draws on interpersonal, capacity-building exercises to prepare young people for using creative means to express themselves. Before the project began, young participants were trained in animation, drawing techniques, scriptwriting for animation, and storyboarding during a 5-week hands-on workshop. The training, which was led by staff from international film, art, and animation colleges (Parsons School of Design in New York, Concordia University in Montreal, and Bournemouth University in the UK), began at the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) in June 2004. It was followed by a 4-week workshop in Nairobi at the Kenya College of Communication Technology (KCCT).

The curriculum not only focuses on technical skills building but also includes “cultural retrieval” exercises taught by African storytellers and artists. This process is designed to allow the trainees to move beyond the established forms of animation, reflect on their heritage, and develop their own original style in animation.


In this context, film is used as a medium to enable youth to communicate with their peers and other viewers in entertaining and informative ways. At KCCT, the trainees (young artists from East Africa, most of whom had had no previous animation training prior to participation in this programme) produced a series of short animated films. The cartoons are crafted to “edutain" while reflecting African cultures, languages, and life experiences. Programmes with African imagery, dialogue, and music that draw on the continent’s oral and pictorial heritage are emphasised. The films were screened on November 11 2004 at the French Cultural Centre, in France.

Following its first animation curriculum, Africa Animated! was contacted by African producers who highlighed the need for a workshop on the specificities of the animation production cycle in order to support the effective production of cartoons, provide job opportunities to the animators trained, and raise awareness about animation as a genre. As of October 2006, Africa Animated! is therefore developing a 2-week curriculum for producers; the first week will recap the basics of audiovisual production in general, while the second week will focus on production for animation projects.

Youth

Building on the outcome of the first workshop, UNESCO and its partners plan to establish a permanent centre for training and production of animated cartoons in Africa, in the hope of facilitating the development of computer animation and enhancing creative content production for the youth of Africa and beyond.