The festival’s jury are accomplished and seasoned professionals in their respective fields.
Creative Director, Zero Gravity Studios
Brian is Co-founder and Creative Director of Zero Gravity Studios an animation and creative studio based in Lagos. With a passion for African Animation for social impact and a drive to raise the next generation of animation & media practitioners, the company has organized trainings and workshops to develop skills in young Nigerians.
His 3D short, Water Wahala, addressed water scarcity in Africa, screening at film festivals in Nigeria, USA, Spain, and Norway.
In 2021, he won the Digital Lab Africa competition with the project - Aminah's Journey, an Animation feature story which addresses at least 4 of the UNSDG's and tells the story of a young girl who escapes a Boko Haram attack on her village only to become a refugee in her own country.
Brian graduated from Yaba College of Technology with a distinction in Painting and from Bournemouth University with an MA in 3D Animation. He has created for brands like Pepsi, Guinness, GTBank, Zenith Bank, and KPMG to name a few.
Animation Industry
Pete started out in audio post-production, working on South Africa’s first weekly animated show: Urbo: the Adventures of Pax Africa. Since then he has designed sound and final mixed a multitude of animated projects including three seasons of Supa Strikas, Cartoon Network’s Africa Creative Lab Shortsand a wide variety of other shows, pilots, shorts and feature films Including festival award winners Troll Girland Shaka: Inkhosi Yamakhosi (on Netflix)
Over the last five years, Pete has focused on development, with a number of projects at various stages of development including Electric Juju, which was selected as one of three South African projects for JETS 2020 at Berlinale.
Pete is passionate about the South African animation industry and in 2019 was lucky enough to co-direct the documentary Also for Grownups: Emerging voices in the South African Animation Industry, which can be found on Showmax. Pete is currently sound designing and writing on Twende, a new original series for Multichoice, and… a bunch of things he can't talk about.
Producer
Francis Kainebi ONWOCHEI is a consummate stage/ screen actor, TV/ Film Producer & Consultant.
His key producing projects have received awards & commendations across the globe some of which are
"Raging Storm", "Final Onslaught", "Saving Alero" which won the Best Actress award & Best Nigerian Film at the 2002 National Film festival.
"Claws of the Lion" which he directed won both Best Short Film at Abuja International Film Festival & Zuma International Film Festival in 2005 & 2006 respectively.
Francis has played significant roles as actor on film projects with Netflix, Prime Video, DSTV, Rok Studios & Showmax amongst many independent features on cinema.
Since 2015 ,Onwochei has focused on script consulting works and project development essentials with many film credits under his belt,helping to strengthen big pictures in the Nigerian film circuit.
Some of his recent credits in that space among others include, 52 Episodes TV Series "OASIS" which ran on DSTV & NTA.
Moses Inwangs "Alta Ego",& "LockDown", Charles of Play's "Blood Vessel", AYs "Merry Men 3" and currently working on Imasuens remake of "Issakaba"
Francis has presented compelling position papers on development of the African motion picture environment in Nigeria ,Ghana, UK,USA,France ,Germany and South Africa.
He is an alumnus of London International film school, ( Film Aesthetics )DW Television Training Centre,Berlin ( Project Management ) New York Film School ( Directing) Havard Law School ( International copyright administration)
Born in Lagos on 4th June 1965, Francis Onwochei is a recipient of Nollywood Distinguished Veterans award and a Fellow of The Arts.
Film Maker
Ferdinand is a Graduate of Business Administration and Management, from the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi and holds a Certificate in Digital Film Making from Del York Creative Academy. A graduate and member of the Nigerian Institute of Management, he has administrative and regulatory experience having worked with the Lagos State Film and Video Censors Board, LSFVCB.
Public Service Professional
Olasumbo is an astute administrator and regulator in the Lagos State film industry. A graduate of Political Science, University of Ibadan and Nigerian Institute of Management, she is an award-winning public service professional, having worked with the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture since 2018.
Founder/ Creative Director, Radioxity Media
Animation Industry
Pete started out in audio post-production, working on South Africa’s first weekly animated show: Urbo: the Adventures of Pax Africa. Since then he has designed sound and final mixed a multitude of animated projects including three seasons of Supa Strikas, Cartoon Network’s Africa Creative Lab Shortsand a wide variety of other shows, pilots, shorts and feature films Including festival award winners Troll Girland Shaka: Inkhosi Yamakhosi (on Netflix)
Over the last five years, Pete has focused on development, with a number of projects at various stages of development including Electric Juju, which was selected as one of three South African projects for JETS 2020 at Berlinale.
Pete is passionate about the South African animation industry and in 2019 was lucky enough to co-direct the documentary Also for Grownups: Emerging voices in the South African Animation Industry, which can be found on Showmax. Pete is currently sound designing and writing on Twende, a new original series for Multichoice, and… a bunch of things he can't talk about.
Creative Director at SMIDS Studios
Damilola Solesi is the CEO and creative director at SMIDS animation studios, a company she founded in 2010.
SMIDS animation studios is one of the leading animation companies in Africa and also rated by EY [Ernst and Young] Industry Report 2019 as being in the top 2 animation companies in Nigeria.
They have handled several 3D animation projects for several clients and are now busy working on children’s content for tv and the web. Their first TV series 'The Makerbolts' was selected as a finalist at the "Animation du monde" at Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the largest animation festival in the world. https://www.annecy.org/news:a2463 Making Smids the first Nigerian animation studio to be selected, After qualifying through the regional and continental stages. One of their top projects is the BOXED series now showing on YouTube. Dami is also selected as a Juror for the 2020-2022 International Emmy Awards by the prestigious International Academy of Television, Arts & Sciences. Dami was also selected as MIPTV’s ‘Producer To Watch’ in 2020 & 2022. Dami's work in leading and managing the day to day strategic and operations of the business has been critical to the success of SMIDS.
Her drive, passion and youth have earned her interviews in the Huffington Post, The Punch,
Guardian and Sun newspapers in Nigeria. She has been a panellist at the annual conference of the Women in Management, Business and Public service (WIMBIZ) at her 2014 annual conference where she spoke on challenges and opportunities available to 'millennia's in the Nigerian Business space. She is also 'Mandela Washington Fellow-Young African Leader', a President Barack Obama flagship program for young Africans. She was also one of the recipients of the USADF (United States African Development Fund) Award of $25,000.
Damilola Solesi has a bachelor’s degree from Bowen University in Computer science and has over the years acquired several business skills through the Certificate in Entrepreneurial Management (CEM) at the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan-Atlantic University, Basic and Advanced leadership course at the Daystar Leadership Academy (DLA) and has benefited immensely from the WIMBIZ (Women in Management, Business and Public Service) mentoring program. She is also a Goldman Sachs Scholar, mentee on the IBM Women Enterprise Challenge, recipient of the Empowering Women series award and one of the 1,200 exceptional women who won the federal government YouWin (Youth Enterprise with Innovation) grants for young entrepreneurs in the second run of the program tagged "YouWin Women".
Damilola is happily married with two sons.
CEO/Creative Director, Basement Animation Studio
Entertainment & technology show inspirational speakers including game changing not just a large-scale conference but a large educational hub.
