Caption: L-R: Mbuotidem Johnson, MD Basement Animation; Ifeoluwa Adebayo, National Co-ordinator I-DICE, Bank of Industry; Promise George, Group Head, Creative Industry Group, Bank of Industry; Sam Onyemelukwe Senior Vice President, Global Business, and Damola Adeniji both of TRACE TV.
AFTER three days of exquisite experience feasting on animations, comics, and cartoons, the 7th Lagos International Festival of Animation, LIFANIMA strolled into history on aplomb having satiated the thirst of young and old Nigerians for its unique creative offerings.
The 3-day festival held at Alliance Francaise, Mike Adenuga Centre, Ikoyi Lagos, attracted key players in the creative industry, financial sector, government, and diplomatic community.
Aside from enlightening conversations and screening of entries from over 20 countries cutting across continents, the festival also honoured winners in four categories.
The award ceremony. held on Day 3 of the festival, saw Bukola Oluwadarasimi Samuel winning Best Visual Effects with Lost in the Earth. The prize was presented by Mr Segun Bankole, Deputy General Manager at Sovereign Trust Insurance. Award for Best Stop Motion Animation went to Trash Monster, directed by Miriam Nwosah, and presented by Mr Francis Onwochei, actor, producer, and LIFANIMA jury member. Counting Sheep, directed by Isabella Bosmos won the award for Best 3D Animation and was presented by Dr Isa Omagu, Divisional Head of Large Enterprises at Bank of Industry. The best 2D Animation award went to Ajaka: Lost in Rome, directed by Ayodele Elegba and presented by Mrs Bukola Agbaminoja, Executive Secretary of Lagos Film and Video Censors Board.
LIFANIMA opened on Day 1 with screening of selected films from the 24 African countries that sent submissions for the 2023 edition. The screening was followed by a panel session on Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises, I-DICE initiative of the Federal Government. The program is a critical intervention in the creative and tech sector with a fund of $617 million, which will soon be made available to enterprises in the sector. Top officials of Bank of Industry, managers of the fund were on the panel to throw more light on the program and answer questions from the audience which consisted mostly of practitioners in animation film and visual effects. The bank was represented by the Group Head, of the Creative Industry Group, Mr Promise George, and the National Coordinator of I-DICE, Mr Ifeoluwa Adebayo. Also on the panel were Mr Mbuotidem Johnson, MD of Basement Animation, and Mr Sam Onyemelukwe, Senior Vice President, Global Business at TRACE TV.
Day 2 had Virtual Panel sessions which featured past winners of LIFANIMA Animation Awards. They are Tunde Oluwa of Black Ice Studios, Esther Kemi Gbadamosi of Radioxity Media, Richard Oboh of Orange VFX Studios and Sara Laubscher who won in the 3D Animation category at LIFANIMA 2019. That session was tagged The Winners ROUNDTABLE. This was followed by Ayodele Elegba of Spoof Animation, who spoke on Kickstarting Your Project, and threw light on the ways and means of fundraising for film production. The final session on the day was ANIMATION Production Pipeline with veteran American animation director, Artie Romero as Keynote Speaker.
On Day 3, the event opened with a well-attended Cocktail Party and screening of animation films.
LIFANIMA has in the past seven years grown to become one of the leading animation festivals in Africa attracting more than 1000 entries from more than 100 countries annually. The festival is presented by USP Brand Management in collaboration with the Lagos State Film and Video Censors Board and the Embassy of France in Nigeria.
L-R: Executive Secretary, Lagos State Film and Video Censors Board, Mrs Bukola Agbaminoja; winner of the Award for Best 2D Animation, Mr Ayodele Elegba, and Festival Director and CEO of USP. BRand Management, Mr Muyiwa Kayode.
A cohort of Youth in Animation and Postproduction Initiative, YAPPI, a program of DelYork Creative Academy in partnership with Mastercard Foundation.
CEO, USP Brand Management and Festival Director, Muyiwa Kayode; National Coordinator, I-DICE, Bank of Industry, Ifeoluwa Adebayo and MD, Basement Animation, Mbuotidem Johnson.
