Lightcatchers
Edward Madojemu
(8:00)

Synopsis
When her apartment begins suffering power outages, a twenty-something Nigerian gamer has to deal with the Lightcatchers, supernatural creatures that feed on electricity.

Artist Statement
Lightcatchers was inspired by my experiences growing up in Nigeria with an unreliable power grid. I wanted to capture that experience in a playful manner, reframing it as an urban folktale that blends real events with fictional ones. The film aims for a stylized, hand-painted look, striking a balance between illustrated 2D paintings and 3D CGI. Created almost entirely in Virtual Reality, the film is animated frame by frame, using a method that can be described as “digital stop-motion.” This is done in tandem with virtual production and motion capture in the game engine Unity, further blending the real and fictional.

 

Bio

Edward Madojemu is a concept artist and animator specializing in game and animation production using VR tools. Edward directed the VR short, Dami and Falian: How was your day (2019), which premiered at VIFF Immersed 2019. Through exploring new methods of storytelling, Edward is bringing Afrocentric narratives and experiences into the limelight, telling stories from his experiences growing up in Nigeria.