Bino and Fino: New African Animated Children’s TV Show
November 1, 2010 § 6 Comments
From the creators’ blog: Bino and Fino is “a fun, educational, multilingual children’s cartoon set in modern Africa.” Produced by Nigerian animators from Abuja-based production company EVCL, the series tries to offer an alternative view of Africa to young children on the continent and in the diaspora. And to that I say: AMEN! The paucity of positive and inspiring information about Africa is a nagging source of frustration for those of us trying to rectify the problem. But with the continuous negative, patronizing, humiliating portrayal of Africa on every medium available to children (TV, radio, movies, books), the battle needs to continue, unabated and intensified! That’s what Adamu Waziri, one of the show’s creators, is attempting to do with Bino and Fino.
It is a show about a brother and sister named Bino and Fino who live with their grandparents, “Mama” and “Papa,” in a modern African city. I first saw the pilot episode on African Digital Art (I love little Fino’s afro puffs!) It was recently released by the creators to generate feedback from the general viewing public, and also to demonstrate the show’s potential to investors and sponsors. Just like Dora the Explorer aids in children’s understanding of Spanish, Bino and Fino’s creators are attempting to teach preschoolers and toddlers alike major African languages. They are working on a DVD that will be released in Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa in addition to English and French. Once it takes off, they hope to have the show done in other popular languages, like Swahili and Wolof. Waziri and his co-creators have secured funding for the release of the series DVD, but the need for funds is never ending. Check out their funding page at Indiegogo for more info about the show. You can read the original post with the pilot here: The 1st Pilot Episode | Bino and Fino. Bless…
I rock ruff and stuff with my Afro Puffs...
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This show is great!! I have been trying to find African and Caribbean animators.
Hi. Many thanks for featuring us. And Noelle, I’m glad you liked it. More work needs to be done but we’re happy people like the concept and its execution.
A few things have changed. Our Indiegogo fundraising campaign is now over. We didn’t really push it after a while and focused on producing the 1st free episode. We felt people had to see something first to decide whether it was something they would like for their family.
We’re now working hard on getting the DVD miniseries ready. But due to budget constraints we might not be able to put in the languages aspect in the way I wanted to. But we’ll keep people up to date on that.
Thanks,
Adamu
Thanks for the update, Adamu! Great work, wish you guys much success!
Many thanks. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. Nice blog by the way. I spent a bit too much time on it yesterday when I should have been working.
Nice concept… I like the characters. Why is Mama wearing Kente on Nigeria’s independence day though…
Hi Danny. I want the cartoon to show things from all over Africa whenever possible. For example Mama’s material can change etc. So even though the cartoon is produced in Nigeria it is not made only for Nigerians.
I hope that explains it.