Through Frames in Sketch and Story

In recent years, African animation has been steadily gaining global attention, not just for its visual artistry, but for its storytelling power.  As studios and independent creators across the continent begin to redefine the narrative space, the question of how diversity and authenticity will navigate the waters of the global climate of animation, is one the runs around the small crevices of how shows are done. However, a question or possibly ponder again emerges, in wondering if the use of hybrid genres to bring forward diverse, culturally rooted, and forward-looking stories. This aim to think of the future of storytelling in African animation is not just stylistic. It’s foundational.  Hybrid genres are helping or could possibly help African animation not only push the boundaries of storytelling, but also support a more flexible and collaborative production pipeline, while preserving authenticity in a continent as culturally vast and varied as Africa. The Rise of Hybrid Gen...

In global sci-fi and fantasy, time is often a strict, linear progression, events follow one another in a neat cause-and-effect chain.  But in many African cultures, time is fluid, layered, and cyclical, entwined with memory, ancestry, and spirituality.  Afrofuturism in Africa uniquely reflects these concepts, offering fresh storytelling possibilities that challenge Western notions of time and futurity. With that in perspective, what does the Afrofuturism genre in the growing African animation voice, provide for African animation creators? But first, what is Afrofuturism? What Is Afrofuturism? Afrofuturism is more than just a blend of science fiction and African culture, it's a lens through which the African diaspora reimagines the future, past, and present.  It merges African aesthetics, culture, and history with speculative elements like advanced technology, outer space, alternate realities, and myth.  It's a way for Black creators globally, and especially Afric...