I think one of the most shocking announcements from Walt Disney Animation Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Lee on Disney Investor Day was the fact that Disney is back in the partnership game. But with who you may ask?
Three friends from Nigeria and Uganda wanted to tell authentic African stories and they did a couple of Kickstarters for projects and they founded the Pan-African comic book entertainment company Kugali. Now Kugali has landed their biggest project yet as they collaborate with Walt Disney Animation on a new Disney+ series.
Although Disney Animation didn’t work directly with Pixar it’s clear that the Pixar collaboration ended up influencing the studio, and later the two became sister studios. Now Disney Animation is teaming with a new studio and entertainment company called Kugali. According to Disney Animation Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Lee, “their (Kugali’s) storytelling ability blew us away.”
This is huge for Kugali and it is pretty epic that Disney is willing to partner with this upcoming entertainment company. Kugali founders Tolu Olowofoyeku, Ziki Nelson, and Hamid Ibrahim are a part of this first-of-its-kind collaboration.
The series is called Iwájú and it will have heavy science fiction elements. Iwájú which roughly translates to “The Future” in the Yoruba language. The show will be long-form and it will have themes such as class, challenging the status quo, and innocence.
In a statement director, Ziki Nelson states, “This show will combine Disney’s magic and animation expertise with Kugali’s fire and storytelling authenticity. Iwájú represents a personal childhood dream of mine to tell my story and that of my people.”
If this is your first time hearing about Kugali. Check out their website. They have comics, animation, and other cool storytelling on their website.
Are you ready for Kugali and Disney to make some magic?
Iwájú arrives in 2022 on Disney+.
Zach Perilstein is the Editor-in-Chief of the Boardwalk Times
