Mohamed Ghazala reports that Noshi Iskandar, who has been a key figure in Egyptian animation since the 1960s passed away last week at the age of 71. He started his career as a caricaturist and starting in 1961, he helped set up the Animation Department for Egyptian Television; his works were screened at a number of international festivals; in addition, he was also an important teacher for several generations of Egyptian artists at Minia University, in Minia.

I just received an interesting report from Mohamed Ghazala. Director of ASIFA Egypt, on celebrations of International Animation Day across Africa  on October 28 (Tunisia, Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa) and November (Cairo and Alexandria). (IAD commemorates the opening  of Émile Reynaud’s Théâtre Optique at the Musée Grévin in Paris on October 28, 1892.) The basic approach to these events were screenings of films submitted by ASIFA chapters from around the world, but also included a wide range of presentations, screenings  and workshops, which I thought I would sample with the following images:

ASIFA Egypt Alexandria Team Maha Sherwin and Ahmed El Ashwah speaking at 2009 International Animation Day in Alexandria, Egypt.

ASIFA Egypt member, Alemu Damena organized the festivities in Addis Ababa, which took place in the Ethiopian National Theatre and the Candle Theatre in collaboration with the Ethiopian Animators Group. Pictured above is Ethiopian poet Ayaleh Mulat speaking in Addis Ababa. The event featured an hour long screening of films by 10 Ethiopian animators.

Animation Africa’s Samuel Quartey is seen here introducing a panel discussion in Kumasi, Ghana.

A children’s workshop was also featured in Ghana, in which animators Salamatu Yakubu and George Opare instructed 20 students from Kumasi’s Ridge School in “basic digital photography exercises and Pixilation.”

Wassim Ben Rhouma of ASIFA Egypt Tunis is here seen introducing an IAD panel in Tunisia. The Facebook page in French promoting the event can be found here.

The IAD celebration in Cape Town, South Africa featured a screening of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a selection of African animation put together by ASIFA Egypt, and Animation SA indents by students from Learn2. The two students above were the winners of Toon Boom software prizes.

The Algerian event, which took place December 13-15 with the theme “Africa Comes to Life, in which Moustapha Alassane, the “dean of African filmmakers” happened after the report was written, but a story on the event, in French, can be found here.

For more on African and especially Egyptian animation, check out Mohamed Ghazala’s Animation from Egypt & Africa blog.