The team at Little LICAF, the year-round section of the festival aimed at youngsters, family, education, and outreach of the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, are celebrating the impending streaming debut of Disney’s animated series, Iwájú, with a look back at their work with some of the team at Pan-African comic book entertainment company, Kugali.

As part of a LICAF research project funded by Comic Art Europe, the Little LICAF team investigated how comics support literacy, pupil well-being, and encourage creativity. Back in 2022, youngsters from Abraham Moss Primary School in Manchester spent the day with Hamid Ibrahim and Fahmy Haroun from Kugali, reading stories from Africa and working together to produce their own comics in artist and writer pairs. 

The workshop was the final Comic creators workshop for the Comic Art Europe, literacy research project in the UK, and succinctly demonstrated how comics have an integral place in the wider world of visual literacy, with a crossover to the traditions of storytelling and the future of digital animation.

You can revisit the day here on the LICAF YouTube. 

With authenticity and creativity at its heart, Kugali is an African-owned and operated storytelling collective spearheading Africa’s modern emergence into the AAA media landscape. Founded in 2017 by Tolu Olowofoyeku, Olufikayo Adeola and Hamid Ibrahim with the purpose of taking African stories to the world, Kugali Media has attracted recognition from companies like Disney and the BBC, as well as paved the way for a generation of new African storytellers to find their voices in graphic novels. Their most notable achievements include record-breaking crowdfunding campaigns, a slew of award-winning graphic novels and their upcoming Disney+ series in collaboration with Disney Animation, Iwájú.

• You can explore their work of Kugali at kugali.com | X: @kugaliMedia | Instagram: @KugaliMedia | Facebook: @KugaliMedia | LinkedIn: KugaliMedia | TikTok: @KugaliMedia | Hashtag: #Kugali

• Find out more about the work of Little LICAF at comicartfestival.com/licaf-live/little-licaf

Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pan-African comic book entertainment company, Kugali’s all-new series Iwájú streams on Disney+ beginning 28th February. Set in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria, the exciting coming-of-age story follows Tola (voiced by Simisola Gbadamosi), a young girl from the wealthy island, and her best friend, Kole (voiced by Siji Soetan), a self-taught tech expert, as they discover the secrets and dangers hidden in their different worlds.

Kugali filmmakers – including director Olufikayo Ziki Adeola, production designer Hamid Ibrahim and cultural consultant Toluwalakin Olowofoyeku – take viewers on a unique journey into the world of Iwájú, bursting with unique visual elements and technological advancements inspired by the spirit of Lagos. Produced by Disney Animation’s Christina Chen with a screenplay by Adeola and Halima Hudson, Iwájú also features the voices of Dayo Okeniyi, Femi Branch and Weruche Opia.

The series’ authentic African-influenced music is by renowned Nigerian composer Ré Olunuga, the soundtrack available digitally from 1st March, whose credits include music for the 2022 Disney+ original movie Rise and the BBC film Girl. 

“I rarely bring my own emotions into writing a score,” he said. “I tend to inhabit the emotions of the characters or subjects and then translate them into music. In this case, it couldn’t be avoided. In addition to Tola's adventurous spirit, Kole’s ingenuity and the many other fun and beautiful emotional threads explored in ‘Iwájú.’ The score is steeped in my own very deep love for Lagos and its multiple layers. It also includes many treats and winks for anyone familiar with or curious about the film music lexicon of Nollywood. Being invited by Ziki and the amazing teams at Disney and Kugali to help tell this beautiful coming-of-age story that explores themes of family, friendship and ingenuity has been an amazing adventure in itself.”

Also on its way is an all-new game inspired by the animated series. Disney Iwájú: Rising Chef will take players into the world of “Iwájú” and allow them to explore authentic African delicacies through this fast-paced and accessible cooking game that celebrates the culture and cuisine of Nigeria. Developed by Maliyo Games in collaboration with Disney and Kugali, Iwájú: Rising Chef will allow players to advance their culinary skills, become the best chef in Lagos, and take over the fanciest restaurant in town. 

• Iwájú will stream on Disney+ worldwide from 28th February 2024

• Iwájú: Rising Chef will be available for iOS and Android on 28th February, to coincide with the debut of the Disney+ series