Turner Africa to Sponsor Animation Village at DISCOP Johannesburg

Turner Africa is officially sponsoring the African Animation Network (AAN) Animation Village at DISCOP Johannesburg 2017.

As a sponsor for the second year running, Turner will help boost AAN’s efforts to develop animation talent in Africa by leading several activities that will be hosted at the African Animation Village. On Wednesday, October 25, Turner will lead a roundtable discussion about how local content can be developed through partnerships between regional creators and international brands.

The panel discussion will feature Ariane Suveg, head of programming and acquisitions manager of Turner Kids’ channels in Africa, and Howard James Fyvie and Andrew John Phillips, writers from Punch Monkey Studios. The session will present a case study on Turner’s engagement with African animation producers and talent from DISCOP in 2016 through to this year. This includes the mentoring of Cloud Life (winner of the Turner Kids’ Animation Pitching Competition in 2016) and the Cartoon Network Imagination Studios pan-African project. The official sponsor will also participate in the Animation Unites Africa Panel Discussion, during which various African organizations representing the animation industry across the continent will be invited to speak about the opportunities and challenges of promoting African animation productions locally and internationally.

Suveg commented: “Turner has been on a journey with African animation producers for the last year. We started at DISCOP Johannesburg 2016 by sponsoring The Animation Lounge and the Turner Kids’ Animation Pitching Competition. This great story is actually continuing as we are partnering with the 2016 winners on local projects, so we are always keen to participate in such events to find and grow African talents.”

In partnership with Annecy International Animated Film Festival & MIFA (Annecy MIFA) and DISCOP markets, the African Animation Network will facilitate pan-African project selections through pitching competitions. At DISCOP Johannesburg, the top six selected projects from DISCOP Abidjan will compete against the top six projects from the local session. The two best projects from Africa will go on to compete internationally at Animation du Monde 2018, taking place at Annecy MIFA in France in June 2018. Turner will sponsor the TV series and specials category at this year’s Africa competition.

“Considering Turner’s position as the market leader in animation broadcasting in Africa, we are extremely excited about the partnership and the opportunities that it will create for African animation professionals at DISCOP Johannesburg and beyond,” said Nick Wilson, project manager of AAN.