Africa2020 Season

The extraordinary Africa2020 Season project

Initiated by Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, the Africa2020 Season is taking place throughout the French territory from the beginning of December 2020 to mid-July 2021. Dedicated to the African continent’s 54 states, its goal is to talk about Africa’s global position, yesterday, today and especially in the future.

The Africa2020 Season is a Pan-African and multidisciplinary project, focused on innovation in the arts, sciences, technologies, entrepreneurship and the economy.

"Based on the principle of collective intelligence, the Africa2020 Season is an invitation for us all to build some collective meaning to transcend all possible futures."

N'Goné Fall, General Commissioner of the Africa2020 Season

In 2020, the Annecy Festival officially received validation for their project to be part of the Africa2020 Season, which has been extended to the end of July 2021, and so at last this is the year we are celebrating this animation all together!

We sincerely thank the General Commissioner N’Goné Fall for her trust. With her, this is the perfect opportunity to greet the entire network and all those who supported us in this tribute and in showcasing the artists and professionals from the African continent during the Mifa 2021, and more broadly during Annecy 2021.

This event is organised as part of the Africa2020 Season

With the support of:

Marcel Jean on African animation

"Amidst films by a few forerunners – Moustapha Alassane, the Frenkel brothers, etc. – imposing works by William Kentridge and contemporary productions by young Ghanaian filmmakers – Comfort Arthur, Nii Ofei-Kyei Dodoo – from Maghreb to South Africa, what we want to show here is the production of an entire continent. How might technological breakthroughs serve to develop African animation? How, in several countries, do filmmakers manage to express themselves on the fringe of any structured industry? How does South African production synch with the rest of the continent? Those are the questions that we want to raise and debate with the African artisans and specialists. With a number of guests already confirmed, we hope this reflection on African animation will ring out loud and clear.

But this cycle dedicated to African animation would never have seen the light of day without the joint work of local organizations such as the African Animation Network, the Meknès Festival and the Fupitoons Festival. What a fantastic opportunity for many festival-goers on site in Annecy to discover a cinematography that is still relatively unknown."

Marcel Jean
Artistic Director of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival
CITIA

Destination Africa for the Special Programmes

For this special occasion the Festival is featuring plenty of themed content:

• Carte blanche The Animated Greater Maghreb
• Best of Fupitoons Festival
• Moustapha Alassane's Cinema of Possibilities, a film by Maria Silvia Bazzoli, co-directed by Christian Lelong from Annecy
• Honouring one of the greatest African animation artists, William Kentridge, through 10 of his short films
• Lady Buckit & the Motley Mopsters, a Nigerian feature film by Adebisi Adetayo (2020)
• Mshini TV
• A selection of several African films conserved or restored by the CNC Archives
• African Animation Today, 11 contemporary programmes from South Africa, Ethiopia, Ghana and the Congo

See the programme

The Jury Members

Among the 18 juries that have the delicate task of awarding the official prizes, we welcome the author and professor Mohamed Ghazala (Egypt), and the artist from Kenya Naddya Adhiambo Oluoch-Olunya, among others.

The City of Annecy Award Special Prize is awarded by the Perspectives jury, comprising three residents from Dori, in Burkina Faso: Moustafa Kabore, cultural entrepreneur, Soujoude Wafa Naami, architecture student and Seidou Samba Toure, director. For this prize, the Annecy Festival collaborates with Annecy Town Hall, Dori Town Hall, and the Échanges Sahel association, created through the town twinning between Annecy-le-Vieux and Dori, and whose goal is to lead local development actions in this region.

The Junior jury is made up of eight children who award a Short Film, a Graduation Film, and also the CANAL+ Junior Jury Award. They are four youngsters originating from Burkina Faso, Senegal, the Ivory Coast and Morocco, alongside four young Annecy locals from the aaa association.

Discover the juries

Africa is at the Mifa

African animation’s richness and diversity is also taking pride of place at the Mifa. This very special edition is the chance to present both substantial content and a number of professionals in constant development, and especially thanks to our African partners whom Mifa have been collaborating with for over 10 years.

• 22 African project Pitches from across the African continent will be presented in partnership with our on-site partners: Meknès International Animation Film Festival, animatex, Nigerian Animation Association, CairoComix, Tshimologong, Digital Lab Africa, etc.
• A conference to "Understand African Animation: Collaboration at the Heart of Today’s and Tomorrow’s Strategies".
• A Focus on Africa spotlights the distribution opportunities within the continent and internationally.
• Meetings with publishers, broadcasters, distributors, and festival programmers from the continent during the Meet the… sessions. We are greeting the notable CairoComix, Meknès International Animation Film Festival, Dakar Court, the Rencontres du Film Court in Madagascar, and the Fespaco.

Marguerite Abouet, Patron of the Mifa Campus 2021

In partnership with Unity, the Mifa Campus is organised for Friday 18^th June and is also giving primetime to African animation.

Like every year, an icon from the animation world brings personal support to the Mifa Campus. She is there to inspire and encourage the students and future young talents.

This year, as part of the African animation celebrations at Annecy, and the Africa2020 Season, we have the very great pleasure in welcoming the patron of the Mifa Campus 2021: Marguerite Abouet.

Writer, scriptwriter and director, Marguerite Abouet was born in 1971, Abidjan. In 2005, she releases Aya: Life in Yop City 1, which wins the Prize for Best First Comic Book at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. This Ivorian saga illustrated by Clément Oubrerie, translated into fifteen languages, has more than 700 pages and depicts an authentic and lesser-known Africa. In 2010, with Mathieu Sapin she publishes the first volume of Akissi, a series for children inspired by her spicy childhood memories. This same year, she also publishes Bienvenue, the chronicle of a young Parisian girl that Singeon illustrates. Books follow one after the other and lead her to the audiovisual sector: she co-directs the animation film Aya of Yop City and directs C'est la vie !, a series for Senegalese TV.

Marguerite Abouet and her guests talk us through their artistic and professional career paths in animation around a discussion, to reveal their ties with Africa, and share their thoughts, convictions and advice on how to progress in the animation industry.

Mifa Animation Industry Award presented to Triggerfish Animation Studios

The presentation of the Mifa Animation Industry Award will also be an opportunity to highlight the animation industry in Africa.

"In this year of celebrating African animation, we wanted to extol the work of an African studio, a genuine trail-blazer of animation in its home country. Its journey in just a few years resulted in the production and shooting of series and feature films which have already earned a constellation of prizes. The studio has helped train talents in South Africa and throughout the African continent, structuring an industry to give all its professionals support.

We are overjoyed to bestow this prize on Triggerfish Animation Studios. Congratulations to Stuart Forrest and his entire team!"

Véronique Encrenaz, Head of Mifa