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Sony Pictures Animation’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” swung its way to victory at the 51st Annie Awards, snatching up seven prizes, including best feature. It was also a good night for Netflix, whose projects earned a total of nine awards, with period revenge series “Blue Eye Samurai” snagging six of those, including best TV/Media – Mature.

In addition to best feature, the “Spider-Verse” sequel’s Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson were honored for their direction while Daniel Pemberton and Metro Boomin won for music. The film also picked up awards for FX, character design, production design and editorial.

Arcadia Motion Pictures’ bittersweet Spanish-French film “Robot Dreams,” about a lonely dog who builds a robot companion, won for best feature – independent.

Netflix’s feature “Nimona,” which had the most nominations with nine, picked up two Annies, one for Chloe Grace Moretz’s voice work as the...

“Nimona,” Netflix’s sci-fi fantasy about a disgraced knight and a shape-shifting teenager, led the features category of the 51st Annie Awards nominations with nine, including best feature, director, character animation, character design, production design, storyboarding, voice acting, writing and editorial.

In the feature race, “Nimona,” produced by Annapurna Animation for Netflix, will go up against critical darling “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” from Sony Pictures Animation, Japanese fantasy-adventure “Suzume” from CoMix Wave Films and Story and distributed by Crunchyroll/Sony Pictures, Paramount and Nickelodeon’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and newly minted Golden Globe winner “The Boy and the Heron,” the first feature from auteur Hayao Miyazaki in a decade, out of Studio Ghibli and distributed by Gkids.

“Blue Eye Samurai,” also a Netflix project, topped the field in the TV/media categories, picking up seven noms. It was followed closely by Disney TV Animation’s “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur...

“Nimona,” the underdog Oscar contender from Annapurna Animation/Netflix, was the surprise leader for Asifa-Hollywood’s 51st Annie Awards with nine nominations. Meanwhile, the leading Oscar frontrunners, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” and Studio Ghibli/GKids’ “The Boy and the Heron” each scored seven nominations. The awards ceremony will be held February 17 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

They will compete for best feature honors with Crunchyroll/Sony’s “Suzume,” the latest 2D fantasy/adventure from anime master Makoto Shinkai, which also collected seven nominations, and Nickelodeon/Paramount’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” which grabbed six noms.

Pixar’s “Elemental” also earned six nominations, while Neon’s “Robot Dreams,” an indie Oscar hopeful from Spain/France, earned five nominations.

The other best indie feature contenders are GKids’ “Ernest & Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia,” “Four Souls of Coyote” (Cinemon Entertainment), “The Inventor” (Curiosity Studios), and “White Plastic Sky...

Exclusive: Disney’s VP of International Animation is to keynote the Manchester Animation Festival next month.

Orion Ross will address the UK’s biggest animation confab with “case studies of how Disney is working in the UK on global series,” he said, “while discussing the evolving opportunities for the UK’s rich and unique ecosystem of animation creators, writers, artists, studios and producers to play a leading role in making new global hits.”

Ross is a big draw for the annual fest. As part of the Disney Branded Television group headed by Ayo Davis, he and his UK-based team develop and produce animated series for Disney’s global channels and platforms including Disney+. Recent and upcoming projects include the Disney+ Originals Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, Chip ’n’ Dale: Park Life, The Doomies, Magicampers, Dragon Striker and The Sunnyridge 3, as well as the global co-productions Miraculous – Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir.

Introduced last year, Mia’s dedicated animation program heads into its sophomore edition with a more firmly entrenched industry position and a resoundingly global outlook. With the program scaffolding already in place, Mia curators spent the past year shoring up support and scouting for projects at key markets in Berlin, Cannes and Annecy, resulting in a program of roughly 30 co-production pitch projects and works-on-progress that altogether spans more than 40 countries.

The rise in animation studios across the African continent will be a major theme of this year’s edition, with nearly one third of the co-production pitch projects coming from Africa-based studios. Among them, titles like Ama Adi-Dako’s “Drumland,” Jérémie Becquer and Julien Becquer’s “Mia Moké,” Esmail Zalat’s “The Prey” and Kay Carmichael’s “Troll Girl” will bring studios based in Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon, Egypt and South Africa into the fold.

Meanwhile, on the conference side, an Oct.

With its list of new releases for July 2023, Disney+ is deciding to chill a bit. And honestly, in the surprisingly competitive summer entertainment landscape, that’s appreciated by your local entertainment writers.

The only two line items of note this month is the premiere of one show and the finale of another. The premiere is that of Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire on July 5. This animated sci-fi anthology features 10 short films from African creators. Per Disney+, Kizazi Moto draws “on uniquely African perspectives to imagine brave new worlds of advanced technology, aliens, spirits, and monsters. This is Africa as you’ve never seen it before.”

Later on in the month, July 26 sees the sixth and final episode of Marvel’s Secret Invasion. Hopefully this saga about a plotted Skrull takeover of earth has a satisfying conclusion because it won’t be until Loki season 2 on Oct. 6 that we get another Marvel Cinematic Universe offering.

Disney’s flagship streaming service Disney+ is getting back to its kid-friendly and educational roots in July with a number of exciting releases. Perhaps most notable for families with children of a certain age is the premiere of the third season of “Bluey.” The beloved animated preschool series will return with 10 new episodes on July 12 and will feature guest appearances from Lin-Manuel Miranda and Rose Byrne.

Check out the trailer for the new season of “Bluey”:

Coming to the streamer on July 28 is the final installment of the beloved “The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse” animated shorts series. This episode “Steamboat Silly” and will follow Mickey and the gang trying to stop hundreds of old film reel versions of Mickey from wreaking havoc all over town. The short is part of Disney’s 100-year anniversary celebration.

It’s also Shark Fest on Disney+ as the streamer has loads of...

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire is an animation American Series directed by Kenneth Shofela Coker, Raymond Malinga and Ahmed Teilab.

This animated anthology brings together a new wave of animation stars to take you on a wildly entertaining ride into Africa’s future. Inspired by the continent’s diverse histories and cultures, these action-packed sci-fi and fantasy stories present bold visions of advanced technology, aliens, spirits and monsters imagined from uniquely African perspectives.

Release date

July 5, 2023

Where to Watch Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire

Disney+

The post ‘Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire’ (2023) New Series on Disney+ on July 5 appeared first on Martin Cid Magazine.

As Disney Europe, Middle East & Africa (Emea) announced the upcoming Disney animation slate at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival yesterday, Disney+ released the trailer for the upcoming animated anthology ‘Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire’, which will premiere exclusively on Disney+ on Wednesday 5 July.

Featuring stories from creators hailing from Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire” promises to take viewers on an unforgettable ride into Africa’s future, presenting visions of the continent as never before seen.

The action-packed animated anthology draws on the continent’s rich and diverse histories and cultures to present 10 sci-fi and fantasy stories featuring bold and brave new worlds of advanced technology, aliens, spirits, and monsters.

The 10 films are: ‘Stardust’, ‘Mkhuzi: The Spirit Racer’, ‘Hatima’, ‘Enkai’, ‘Moremi’, ‘Surf Sangoma’, ‘Mukudzei’, ‘First Totem Problems’, ‘Herderboy’ and ‘You Give Me Heart’.

Also in trailers – Trailer drops for Pixar ‘Up’ sequel short ‘Carl...

"We are headed to the big leagues!" Disney has revealed a trailer for a new animated anthology series, in the same vein as their Star Wars: Visions collections. Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire features ten stories from Africa that are aiming "to ignite the world." The selection of animated shorts follow a set of characters through a dystopian future, in some cases through time travel, other worlds and alien beings, all through the lens of African culture. This is cool. Featuring segments with the titles "Stardust," "Mkhuzi: The Spirit Racer," "Hatima," "Enkai," "Moremi," "Surf Sangoma," "Mukudzei," "First Totem Problems," "Herderboy," and "You Give Me Heart". Animated by Triggerfish based in Cape Town. With the voices of Florence Kasumba, Kehinde Bankole, Pearl Thusi, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, Sheila Munyiva, Stycie Waweru, Candice Modiselle, Lillian Dube, Clementine Mosimane, Mandisa Nduna, Tumi Morake, Sne Dladla, Tyson Ngubeni, Nasty C, Gigi Lamayne. Damn all of these look good!

Disney Branded Television and Disney Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) looks set to reveal a slew of new titles at France’s Annecy Animation Festival.

Apart from “Disney Junior’s Ariel,” a new series inspired by “The Little Mermaid,” pre-school adventure series “Magicampers” has also been greenlit.

Set at a day camp for magical creatures – its protagonists, Darly and Loomis, are half-pig and half-Pegasus, and half-donkey and half-unicorn – and created by Obie Scott Wade, it’s set to premiere globally on Disney+ and Disney Junior next year.

“We instantly fell in love with this ensemble of unique hybrid characters, who each combine something magical and something ordinary within themselves,” said Orion Ross, vice president of animation for The Walt Disney Company Emea.

“Their adventures in this lush fantastical world are wildly fun and also explore what it means to grow up and discover yourself.”

The announcement of “Magicampers” will...

"Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire" is a new sci-fi, fantasy anthology series of ten animated shorts, from Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, streaming July 5, 2023 on Disney+:

".... 'Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire' promises to take viewers on an unforgettable ride into Africa’s future, presenting visions of the continent as never before seen. The action-packed animated anthology draws on the continent’s rich and diverse histories and cultures to present 10 sci-fi and fantasy stories featuring bold and brave new worlds of advanced technology, aliens, spirits, and monsters..."

Click the images to enlarge...

"Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire" a new 10-part collection of animated short films, streams July 5, 2023 on Disney+:

"... featuring stories from creators hailing from Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, 'Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire; promises to take viewers on an unforgettable ride into Africa's future, presenting visions of the continent as never before seen. 

" The action-packed animated anthology draws on the continent's rich and diverse histories and cultures to present 10 sci-fi and fantasy stories featuring bold and brave new worlds of advanced technology, aliens, spirits and monsters..."

Click the images to enlarge... ...