Ebele Okoye
TVC E, MOVIE – Nigerian animation filmmaker, Ebele Okoye, is moving on, satisfactorily, from short films into a feature length production.
Okoye who first won the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) prize in 2008 for her film, The Lunatic, continued her exploit in 2015 with another AMAA prize for The Legacy of Rubies, a short which also won her the animation laurel category at the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) last November.
Reeling out further plans she has for the The Legacy of Rubies, Okoye noted that although the film is still open for acquisition and distribution, her major focus is now on the feature animation film, which she wouldn’t disclose its title just yet.
She however revealed that it is “a 60 minutes 2D animation set in a fantasy planet rich with the rare mineral ‘Atumi’, inhabited by two warring species and controlled by the mystical sacred eagle,” adding that, “… it is like Chronicles of Narnia and Pocahontas put together.”
According to the leading African animation entrepreneur, with the emphasis on bridging the cultural gap between Africa and the rest of the world through productions, the feature which will be produced by Shrinkfish Ltd Abuja, Nigeria, will predominantly have an African team.Reacting to fact that African resources are hardly made available for animation production, Okoye hinted that she is exploring co-productions opportunities with other countries, just as she is very positive that 2016 will bring a remarkable change in the face of African animation.
