Marta Balaga Anim’ato Mada, a new workshop for animators, was announced at the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival on Thursday.
Set to unspool from Oct. 24 through Dec. 4, it will allow 10 animators from ACP and Indian Ocean countries to participate in a mentorship program.
The deadline to apply is July 31.The International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF) and festival Les Rencontres du Film Court (Madagascourt) are behind the initiative, developed in collaboration with l’Alliance Française de Majunga as part of Clap ACP2, a support program for South-South co-productions.“Launching Anim’ato at Annecy is about placing Africa on a world-class stage, because that’s where it belongs,” says Enrico Chiesa, Clap ACP coordinator. “This program is ambitious, because it focuses on stop-motion, ambitious because it will last six weeks, ambitious because it aims at being Pan-African.
All these factors are the ‘firsts’ when it comes to French-speaking African animation.”Gender parity is also an important part of the project, as five men and five women will be invited to participate.According to Chiesa, animation is a “strategic,” although still underdeveloped, part of the African film sector.“Africa has a very young population and these viewers need to see themselves on the screen,” he notes, mentioning that at the moment, TV5 MONDE buys most of the animation series created in French-speaking Africa.
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