African Folktale - Blog Posts

Hi everyone! I'm really happy to share that my film will be screening tomorrow Aug 3 at 'SUMMER STAGE 2016' in Staten Island for the New York African Film Festival! I'll be presenting my short film, which plays before the animated French feature "Kirikou and the Wild Beasts" by the great Michel Ocelot (Former ASIFA President & Multi-award winning Filmmaker) in front of a huge crowd. All are welcome to this free event. I'm truly honored to participate. Thanks y'all!

FILM FESTIVAL

TV NEWS INTERVIEW

Hello, everyone! The SVA Film and Animation Department just posted a blog about me on their website. Also, the Cape Town TV programming manager, Michael Aldridge aired my film “Orisha’s Journey” on South African television on Saturday, May 07 at 11:22:27. Thanks for all the support everyone, feel free to check out the links to the SVA Blog and a TV interview I did for South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC News)  can't wait to share the new projects I'm working on!

SVA BLOG- http://filmandanimation.sva.edu/alumni-blog-abdul-ndadi2/

SABC NEWS Interview- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u1ffP9fyYA

Hey everybody! The Cannes Film Festival (Festival de Cannes) put up the participants for this years Short Film Corner... Again, I am truly honored to play a small part in such a great festival!! Thank you for your time and thanks to ALL my family and friends for their love and support! There’s a link below or you can just type Orisha’s Journey Cannes Film Festival and it should pop up! 

http://sub.festival-cannes.fr/SfcCatalogue/MovieDetail/f0aca806-0423-4bb5-a99b-4383851a7d6a

I got some good news from Cairo, Egypt today! My film will be screening next month (March 20-27, 2015) at the Cairo International Cinema and Arts Festival for Children... This means a lot to me because this will be the first African Film Festival my film will be a part of. Thanks to all my friends and family that helped on this project.

Hey guys! I'm heading to Boston this sunday (1/25/2015) to the Glovebox Film Festival where they'll be playing my film along with a lot of really awesome ones! So if you're in the Boston Area come check it out gonna be a fun night...  Here's the link to the Line up! (mine is the last one in Animation Block II)

http://glvbx.com/festival-line-up/

Thank you futurafrika for the share from Italy! Grazie:)

#filmchevorremmovedere: ORISHA’S JOURNEY Creato dall’animatore ghanese Abdul Ndadi, “Orisha’s Journey” è un film che s’ispira alla tradizione folcloristica africana. Il film, presentato come tesi di laurea, esplora i diversi aspetti culturali africani. Orisha, infatti, è il nome comune attribuito ad alcune divinità nella religione yoruba.  «It’s important to me that Africans feel that no matter where they’re from, they’re part of my film.» "Orisha’s Journey" racconta di una bambina e il potere trascendente dell’immaginazione. Orisha, pur non credendo nelle favole, si ritrova a viverne una dopo l’incontro con un fiore animato che si è smarrito. Orisha intraprenderà un viaggio nel mondo degli spiriti e dell’immaginazione per restituire il fiore alla misteriosa foresta.

Anime! Arte 2014

Hey everyone! My film  "Orisha's Journey" was selected to play in Rio de Janeiro at Anim! Arte 2014 :)

Hamilton Film Fest

Hey anyone in the Ontario, Canada area! My film was selected to play this year at the Hamilton Film Fest so if you'd like to check it out please do:) Thanks!

Glovebox Film Fest

Hey y'all I got some cool news my film "Orisha's Journey" got accepted into the Glovebox Short Film and Animation Festival (Boston, Mass)! I wanna say thanks again to all my friends and family that helped on this project:)

Hey! I wanted to share some good news...I recently got word that my film Orisha's Journey will be screening this year at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival in their "Educational Film Market" section, which is where they showcase student animated films they picked from around the globe. Its an honor to be screening there and since Hiroshima is one of the biggest Animation festivals in the world its also a great opportunity. I wanna thank my loving family and friends that helped me with my project. (This is the poster I sent to Japan) -Abdul

This the final version of the volcano pan shot from my film...

(including final lighting, camera movement, swf, and painted Photoshop layers for earthquake)

Here's a pan shot from my film Orisha's Journey...

1) Initial drawing I made for the volcano pan

2) Is the painting I did in photoshop with textural and fog layers 

3) Is the near final look with effects lighting

Forest Spirits from my film Orisha's Journey I wanted to share a few more gifs from my thesis film. Thanks for checking it out!

Hey y'all! I wanted to share a "Flower Spirit" sequence from my film Orisha's Journey. In African lore, it is believed that spirits dwell within all things and so all nature should be respected. Being of West African descent (Ghana) I grew up hearing tales of this sort which captured my imagination. (shout out to my boy Iker Maidagan on bkg colors!)

DVD cover I designed for my animation thesis Orisha's Journey which is based on African folklore. I'm currently submitting my film to as many film festivals as I can. Thank you for your time!:)

A few screenshots from my animation thesis film Orisha's Journey for the School of Visual Arts. The film is based on various African folktales throughout the continent...