Africa beyond hunger and war

Watching the dozen illustrators, authors and vocal actors who worked in his cartoon studio in Togo, Boris Kapenou greeted how they really brought African stories to life without any external help.

Without animation school in the coastal country of West Africa, the Aruka studio in a neighborhood of the working class of the capital Lome is based on a cast of passionate new volunteers, supported by some professionals to bring to life his creations.

Although Aruka works with limited funds, which is often increased through her back to the production of advertising signs, KPADENOU is afraid that by completing this with foreign investment, she will endanger the studio identity.

“In Africa, when films are made with external funding, we often do not have the freedom to tell our stories the way we want,” the AFP manager told AFP. “What we end up producing is no longer authentic.

Founded in 2017, ARUKA productions draw inspiration from everyday life, such as “La Voix du Bebe” [The Baby’s Voice]A animated film about pregnancy or cultural traditions, such as “Wiyao”, which is exploring rituals in northern togo.

“This creativity comes from everything we have read, everything we know, our own story, who were our ancestors, what they lived,” said Emmanuel Yemey, the two -dimensional studio animator.

‘Reflection of reality’

Many of the new studio workers, all under the age of 28, are educational students of art and design students to become an animators at work at Aruka. For 22 -year -old student Kadi Tchapo, who works in the three rooms of studios full of computers, art supplies and recording equipment represents a unique opportunity.

Like many of her colleagues, Tchapo wears a lot of hats in Aruka – shouts the leader for the series “Ma Famille Imparfaite” [My Imperfect Family]while also helping to color in production. “I like the design and animation. I’m not a professional yet, but I’m learning a lot,” he said.

In addition to the money issues and the requirements of the learning computer designs from scratch, ARUKA staff should also address the Togo electricity problems. “We don’t even have a backup generator, even though we are regularly facing unexpected power cuts,” Kpadenou mourned.

More than anything else, Aruka, whose name means “wise” in the IFE language spoken in southern Togo, seeks to “meet a need – the lack of African stories on the screen, especially for children,” the director said.

“Today, we want to show an Africa that creates, innovating, contributing to the construction of the world – the complete opposite of the image often presented in Africa as a place of hunger and war,” Kpadenou added. “As Africans, and especially as artists, we have a duty to act as ambassadors for our continent. It is not just a desire to present a positive picture – it is the reflection of reality.”