Ebele Okoye Among Jury at Poland’s ANIMATOR Film Festival

Acclaimed German-based Nigerian animator Ebele Okoye has been selected as one of the international jury members tasked with selecting the winners for the International Short Film Category at the 16th edition of the International Animated Film Festival ANIMATOR is in full swing.

Okoye, often regarded as the mother of African animation, shared her excitement on Instagram: “Now back in shape to work and looking forward to sharing the jury space and selecting winners for the Animator festival Poznan…See you in Poland.”

Joining Okoye on the three-person panel are Polish filmmaker Magdalena Osinska, who directed “Star Wars: Visions Series,” and Mark Taynton, a UK-based South African who heads Warner Bros. Discovery’s Adult Swim EMEA, known for animations such as “Rick & Morty.”

The Short Film Competition is one of four categories at ANIMATOR, alongside the International Feature Film Competition, the International Animated Series Competition, and the Polish Animated Film Competition.

The ANIMATOR International Animated Film Festival is an Oscar-qualifying festival, a status it earned in 2017, nine years after its founding. Oscar-qualifying festivals are recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, providing a pathway for films to qualify for the Oscars. This esteemed group includes prestigious events like France’s Cannes Film Festival, America’s Sundance, Belgium’s ANIMA, and Canada’s Spark Animation. Winners of Poland’s ANIMATOR have a better chance of securing an Oscar nomination.

Armenian filmmaker Elodie Derange won the Golden Pegasus Grand Prix for Best International Short Film at the previous edition of the ANIMATOR festival in June 2023, with her animated documentary “Armat,” which explores her Armenian roots through interviews with her relatives.

Okoye’s inclusion on the ANIMATOR jury comes just two months after serving as a jurist at the 31st Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film in April, also an Oscar-qualifying event.

As the founder of Nigeria’s first-ever animation course, Shrinkfish media lab (smedLAB), and the “Motion to the Sound” skills-building initiative for freelance animators, Okoye has played a significant role in pioneering animation in Africa since she migrated to Germany in 2000. Her contributions earned her recognition from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which appointed her to its Diaspora Advisory Board for the “Shaping Development-Oriented Migration” (MEG) program.

As ANIMATOR continues, the animation community awaits the announcement of the next winner of the Golden Pegasus Grand Prix and other awards.

The event, which started on June 25, runs through June 30, and hundreds of animated films from around the world are participating in the festival.