African animation filmmaker Shofela Coker has been nominated for three awards at the 51st Annie Awards. Coker is the art director for the Yoruba-inspired sci-fi animation Moremi, which is part of the Kizazi Moto series on Disney Plus.
The nominations include Best Direction, Best Character Animation, and Best FX TV/Media category. The awards ceremony will be held on February 17, 2024, at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles.
The Moremi episode, co-written by Vanessa Kanu, tells the story of a spirit boy named Luo who is trapped in a spirit realm and terrorised by giants. He is rescued by Moremi, a particle physicist from Nigeria, who helps him reconnect with lost memories.
The episode premiered in Nigeria at the Zuma Festival in Abuja on December 4, 2023, and at the Filmhouse Landmark Cinemas in Lagos on December 6, 2023, in collaboration with the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF).
Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, the series that Moremi is a part of, was also nominated for the Children and Youth category at the international Rose d’Or awards on November 27, 2023, held at the King’s Palace in London.
The Disney original was created by animators from Zimbabwe, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt and tells an adventurous tale about Africa, with themes centered around technological advancement, aliens, spirits, and monsters.
