The Nollywood Week film festival showcases over 30 entries, including feature films, animations, and short films from Nigeria, Brazil, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States.
Lady Buckkit and the Motley Mopsters is one of the top animation films that showed at the eighth edition of the Nollywood Week Film Festival which held virtually.
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The four-day virtual film festival organized by the French-based association Okada Media is headed by Serge Noukoué and Nadira Shakur.
The two co-founders launched the first edition of Nollywoodweek in Paris in 2013 but was shown virtually last year due to the pandemic.
The festival is another attempt by the organisers to bring the best of Nigerian cinematic talent to the French public and global scene. It also features a forum for discussion and networking around key challenges and opportunities in the African cinema landscape with masterclasses and opportunities to connect to experts in production and distribution.
The festival’s director Nadira Shakur in a statement said it is one of the leading forums for the discovery and distribution of high-quality productions from Nigeria and has expanded to receive films from other African countries as well as the African Diaspora.
Shakur said “This year we are celebrating the entry of five animations – four short films and a feature film from Nigeria.
The feature film in the animation category is Ladybuckit and the Mopley Mopsters, a Nigerian adventure through time seen through the eyes of a young girl which happens to be the very first animated feature film to come out of Nigeria.
Ladybuckit and the Mopley Mopsters is about “a precocious, self-absorbed little girl that finds herself in a wildly unfamiliar territory. There, she encounters a band of highly unusual characters that change the course of her destiny,” the film synopsis reads.
The one hour, 20-minute film was produced in 2020 by Blessing Amidu, Oghenero Afiari, Chris Ihidero. It was directed by Adebisi Adetayo. In English, the film tells the typical Nigerian story with a blend of language that resonates with Nigerians, Pidgin English. Among prominent Nollywood stars in the film is Bimbo Akintola, Kalu Ikeagwu and Patrick Doyle.
Another animation film, a short film, in the festival, that fans of Moana – produced by Osnat Shurer and featured Dwayne Johnson in 2016 – would love is The Satchel. According to Yoruba beliefs, the short film tells the creation story exploring the themes of love, jealousy, and commitment to a greater good. It was produced and directed by Nissi Ogulu.
According to the organisers of the film festival, this development in the area of animation is a testament to the specialisation that is taking place in the African cinema landscape.
The industry is developing rapidly with an increasing number of production houses specializing in animation.
Shakur said many young people, both self-taught and certified, are being creative and redefining how African stories are told.
“The animation is one of the best ways to expand the audience for home-grown, exciting African content that can inform, challenge, and delight younger viewers” added Shakur.
The festival also includes four world-premieres, including All na vibes and One Lagos night at the opening and closing nights respectively.
Among the Nigeria selection at the festival is About a boy and the new normal while the girl in the yellow jumper and Binti are among the collection of stellar films for the diaspora selection.
The festival which started on Thursday ends tomorrow.
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