Disney: Nigerian Animation Filmmaker Bags Three Annie Award Nominations

The 10-part series was screened in a homecoming premiere on December 6, 2023 in Lagos State, Nigeria.

Nigerian animation filmmaker, Shofela Coker, has received three nominations for the 51st Annie Awards. The prestigious award celebrates excellent animation productions within the review year.

Coker’s work, Moremi, which is part of the Disney+ anthology series, Kizazi Moto, has been nominated for three categories including Best Direction, Best Character Animation, and Best FX.

The 10-part series was screened in a homecoming premiere on December 6, 2023 in Lagos State, Nigeria.

Kizazi Moto, a Swahili phrase meaning ‘Generation Fire’ is an anthology of short films by 14 young African filmmakers from Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. 

The animated series was produced by Triggerfish Animation Studios Cape Town; and out of 300 stories submitted, 15 made it to the development stage and 10 were produced. Out of 73 filmmakers who pitched, only 14 made the cut. Eight South African filmmakers, two Zimbabwean filmmakers, and one filmmaker each from Nigeria (Coker), Kenya, Egypt, and Uganda, respectively.

The event was presented by the American Film Showcase, USC School of Cinematic Arts, and the U.S. Consulate General Lagos courtesy of the consul general, Will Stevens, and hosted by AFRIFF - Africa International Film Festival courtesy of Chioma Ude, the founder, who has over the years created platforms at the festival to train young African filmmakers in animation.

The Lagos homecoming was significant not just for the project but also for US-based Coker whose work Moremi shines brightly in the anthology.

Moremi’s storytelling, cryptic with Easter eggs requires a rewatch to fully appreciate the depth of emotions conveyed and Shofela describes the film as his homecoming, a reconnection to his roots, open to audience interpretation.

When asked why he chose to work with South Africa’s Lucan Studio rather than a Nigerian one, Shofela cited the lack of local studios meeting the required criteria for Moremi’s scale.

Kizazi Moto has shown the world that Africans are capable of telling authentic stories with global appeal via the animation medium. It also means the world has been woken up to African animation, and is eager to see more from the African animation space. 

For the African animation space, the project is useful to foster Pan-African unity amongst young African filmmakers. It is safe to say that more Pan-African animated series will be green-lit in the near future — hopefully by African investors too.

It is furthermore a sign that the next generation of African children will grow up watching lots of animated content, containing characters that look like them.

For a Nigerian filmmaker like Shofela, Kizazi Moto has provided an avenue for him to share his own take on the legendary folklore of Queen Moremi and the great ancestral land of Ile-Ife. And it was well received by the Nigerian audience present at the Lagos premiere. 

The 51st annual Annie Awards will be held on Saturday, Feb. 17, at UCLA’s Royce Hall. A pre-show reception will begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by the ceremony at 7 p.m.

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Ebukah Emmanuel Nzeji is a Trailer Editor, Film Journalist, and Comics/Animation enthusiast.