A TV series featuring a little girl named Enkai, who struggles to grab her single mother’s attention while her mother tries to save the planet as a cosmic deity, has been nominated for the Best TV/Media – Limited Series at the 2024 Annie Awards.
The series, called Enkai, is part of an animated anthology named Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire on Disney+. It was directed by Kenya’s Ng’endo Mukii and features actors Stycie Waweru and Sheila Munyiva. The series will compete with Triggerfish, Only You: An Animated Shorts Collection, Episode: Yellowbird, and Pokémon: Path to the Peak Episode: 1.
Enkai was one of ten original features in the anthology, created by up-and-coming filmmakers from different countries. The series was preceded by a multi-year research phase, which involved the input of Kadi Tay, a Ghanaian comic book blogger, Sidney Kimbo-Kintombo, an award-winning Congolese animation supervisor, and Bridget Pickering, a Namibian-South African producer.
The Afrofuturist show features creators from Zimbabwe, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt. It explores African cultural aesthetics, philosophy of science, and philosophy of history at the intersection of African diaspora culture with technology. Each series instalment is at least 10 minutes long on the Disney+ streaming platform.
Enkai is a little girl who wants her working single mother’s attention, but her mother’s job is more demanding than most, as she’s a cosmic deity trying to save the planet. Ng’endo Mukii has won multiple international awards for her films, including the Silver Hugo for The Best Animated Short at the Chicago International Film Festival for Yellow Fever and Encounters Immersive Grand Prix for her first 360 film, Nairobi Berries. She is a Design Indaba ’15 Speaker and a Berlinale Talents Alum.
The Annie Awards celebrate excellence in animation, and the 51st annual awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, February 17.
