Lagos International Festival of Animation calls for 2020 entries
The 2020 edition of Lagos International Festival of Animation (LIFANIMA) will hold from June 4 – 6, 2020, according to the organisers, USP Brand Management.
According to Festival Director and creator of the multiple award-winning animation series, Turtle Taido, Mr. Muyiwa Kayode, “It is becoming obvious that animation is the next big thing for Africa and the whole world is now paying attention to this continent. Using animation to tell our African stories is the next step towards changing the Africa narrative. LIFANIMA provides the platform for realising that vision and achieving optimum value-creation and rapid growth of the animation film industry”.
A visual artist, animation producer, director, enthusiast and promoter, Adebimpe Adebambo, has also been named the first artistic director of the festival as a result of her invaluable contributions and work in the African animation space. Her debut animation short film Tejumade was nominated in the category of Best 2D Animation at the second edition of LIFANIMA and has been selected and nominated in best animation categories in over 20 international festivals.
LIFANIMA has the objectives to promote the rapid development of the animation industry in Nigeria and across Africa, to improve the movie industry through increased inclusion of animation content, provide a platform for the promotion of local animators and development of the quality of animation and to expose animators to the latest technology in animation hardware and software.
Read more here
Surprises At 2019 Ghana Movie Awards
Statuettes were handed out at the ninth Ghana Movie Awards (GMA) on Saturday night at the National Theatre in Accra.
Actress Salma Mumin made history as she beat some of her senior colleagues to win her first best actress in the lead role award. She beat the likes of Jackie Appiah, Yvonne Nelson, Lydia Forson, Selassie Ibrahim, Roselyn Ngissah, Nadia Buari and others.
Actor Alphonse Menyo also took home his first trophy for best actor in role category.
The surprise winner of the best picture category was ‘Gold Coast Lounge’, which is set to premiere January 2020.
Funny Face and Nana Ama McBrown were adjudged favourite actor and actress respectively, while Florence Adjei won discovery of the year with her role in ‘Adoma’.
The best actor and actress African collaboration also went to Mike Ezuruonye for the movie ‘Tender Lies’ and Rosie Meurer for her role in Yvonne Nelson’s film, ‘Sin City’.
The annual award recognises excellence in the Ghana’s movie industry.
Saturday’s award ceremony was attended by a number of showbiz personalities like Prince David Osei, Bismark The Joke, Jeffrey Nortey, and a host of others.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rigworld Group, an oil services business with operations across West Africa, Kofi Amoa-Abban, has pledged $10,000 towards setting up a Ghana Movie Awards Fund (GMAF), an initiative by the organisers of the award.
Read more here
https://www.modernghana.com/entertainment/61890/surprises-at-2019-ghana-movie-awards.html
Oscar-Nominated White Director Says ‘Black Panther’ Is Dangerous For Black Kids
Black Panther was a cultural phenomenon, a box office smash and a critically acclaimed, Oscar-winning film. So it’s no surprise that a white filmmaker has come along to trash it.
Oscar-nominated writer and director Terry Gilliam recently spoke with IndieWire and jumped on the bandwagon of criticizing superhero movies, saying they’re creating a monoculture of blockbusters.
“I don’t like the fact they’re dominating the place so much,” he said. “They’re taking all the money that should be available for a greater variety of films. Technically, they’re brilliant. I can’t fault them because the technical skills involved in making them are incredible.”
His comments would have gone unnoticed, until he decided to specifically target Ryan Coogler’s magnum opus, calling Black Panther “bulls**t.”
“I hated Black Panther. It makes me crazy,” Gilliam said, seemingly under the impression that his opinion on the film matters. “It gives young Black kids the idea that this is something to believe in. Bullst. It’s utter bullst.
“I think the people who made it have never been to Africa,” he continued. “They went and got some stylist for some African pattern fabrics and things. But I just hated that movie, partly because the media were going on about the importance of bulls**t.”
Not that anyone really was waiting on Terry Gilliam’s White opinion of how authentically African a Black film is, but now that he’s spit it out, he may want to know that key members of BP’s cast have, in fact, been to the continent.
Read more here
https://www.bet.com/celebrities/news/2019/12/23/marvel-filmmaker-black-panther.html
Season 12 Of AfroPoP Series Will Highlight Fela Kuti & Afrobeat
The new season premieres on WORLD Channel at 8 p.m. ET (10 p.m. PT) on January 20
Music and the sounds of revolution are in the air as the 12th season of AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange opens with an episode saluting the work and lives of the originators of the Afrobeat music genre, Fela Kuti and Tony Allen. Premiering on WORLD Channel at 8 p.m. ET (10 p.m. PT) on January 20, the AfroPoP season opener features Joel Zito Araújo’s documentary film My Friend Fela about the African musical icon followed by Birth of Afrobeat, a short film from director Opiyo Okeyo telling the story of drummer Tony Allen.
Produced by Black Public Media (BPM) and co-presented by distributor American Public Television (APT), AfroPoP has brought real stories of life, art and culture in the modern African Diaspora to public television audiences for more than a decade.
“Season 12 launches with two films that pay tribute to the enduring legacy of two cultural trailblazers and the music they created which has done so much to unite people around the world around political struggles and shared realities,” said Black Public Media Executive Director and Leslie Fields-Cruz.
Read more here
https://www.blackfilm.com/read/2019/12/season-12-of-afropop-series-will-highlight-fela-kuti-afrobeat/
Massive boost for hip-hop museum as New York contributes over $3 million towards project
New York has awarded a $3.75 million state grant to help build the first museum in the world dedicated to hip-hop music and culture.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the grant Thursday.
Pegged to cost $80 million, the Universal Hip Hop Museum is scheduled to open in 2023 in South Bronx – the borough otherwise better known as the “Boogie Down” in old school hip-hop circles.
It is considered the birthplace of the genre.
At a temporary location in the Bronx Terminal Market, the Universal Hip Hop Museum, CNN reported is the “brainchild” of New Yorkers who had been on the hip-hop scene since its very inception.
“The museum is part of the renaissance of the Bronx. The Bronx is coming back,” said the museum’s director Rocky Bucano. “But the museum will be of the people and for the people.”
The museum, which has already received support from corporate partners like Microsoft and artistes like LL Cool J and Nas, would occupy 50,000 square feet in Bronx Point, the residential and retail project by L+M Development Partners that will be erected north of the 145th Street bridge along the Harlem River in the Bronx.
The official groundbreaking for the museum is set to happen over the summer, the New York Post reported.
Read more here
Photograph: Rollingstone
