By: Arón Olegnowicz

It’s not everything, but on-screen representation matters. 

With Disney announcing its latest partnership with the Pan-African entertainment company Kugali to produce an animated sci-fi series set in Lagos, Nigeria, the stage is ripe to place the African continent, and its abundant cultures, in the limelight.

Iwájú, as the show will be titled, will begin streaming on Disney+ in 2022. Though insight on the plot and characters is yet to be revealed, the show’s title loosely translates to “the future” in Yorùbá —  a language spoken in West Africa.

Philip Lawal, a Nigerian-American first-year in electrical and computer engineering, said he sees a use for Iwájú as a tool, stemming from the bridge it could build between his home continent and the world, to foster education and appreciation — two things he feels are long overdue in American society.

“I think Africa is one of the most underrated continents in the world,” Lawal said. “Disney’s upcoming [collaboration] will really bring to light our exquisite culture.”

But for Lawal and countless other Afro-descendant youths, his culture has been inaccurately portrayed for a long time, he felt his first taste of prejudice when he was merely a child.

“When kids my age or going to my school knew I was Nigerian they would make fun of [my background] asking me, ‘Did [you] live in huts?’” Lawal said. “But as I got older [and] my love for my heritage was found, I was able to shout and be proud that I am Nigerian.”

Lawal said having a show like “Iwájú” in his childhood would’ve had him up early and on his feet, eager to watch.

“I don’t think this show would be able to compare to any of the shows I watched growing up,” Lawal said. “My identity has helped me create a vision that I want to be great in life [and], later on, go back to my home country and expose the beauty that it has to offer.”

Connor Telford, a first-year in film studies, said “Iwájú” could be a gamechanger through its historic amplification of Black stories, thanks to this partnership — not purchase — with Disney.

“Representation matters and can help generate a better future,” Telford said. “It encourages listening to a variety of voices that all deserve to have their experiences heard and accurately depicted.” 

Telford said that despite Disney’s dissatisfactory history of misrepresenting minority communities, he sees the partnership as empowering “because Disney is letting Black stories be told by Black voices.”

And students aren't the only ones who have expressed excitement for the collab.

“A story is not really sharing information — it’s sharing a tale, sharing that experience,” Kyoung Lee Swearingen, assistant professor of Design and Moving Image Production at Ohio State, said.

Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Swearingen is an expert in the visual component of cinematography — the power of shapes, color, and images to augment the audience’s engagement with a story. 

The success of these design elements has manifested throughout Swearingen’s career, including during her time with Pixar, through which her work on films like “Ratatouille,” “Toy Story 3,” and “WALL-E” claimed numerous Academy Awards. 

Alongside vivid character designs and innovative depictions of Afro-futuristic architecture, Swearingen said she feels that “Iwájú” is a step in the right direction for cultural representation and equality.

“Talking about role models and how children learn from watching and experiencing this media, they’re growing up and forming their own conception,” Swearingen said. “The question is how [Kugali and Disney will] partner so that they can best represent that more conceptual, the core of the culture, rather than just a superficial representation of the country.”

While working at Pixar, Swearingen said she experienced firsthand the kind of evolution the industry is undergoing to bring about a more complete representation, progress that remains slow and deeply systemic.

What does Swearingen hope will come from “Iwájú” and upcoming films? A raw, human connection, as, in her experiences growing up in Seoul, unravelling human emotion is a remarkably empowering quality of film.

“I hope they focus on our primal connection,” she said. Universal themes like friendship, journey, and perseverance are often the secret ingredient in producing an impactful show. 

Swearingen also said that while the setting of these dynamic stories may change, their human foundation remains the same.

For Telford, who grew up immersed in almost entirely American film culture, discovering this very potential is what helped him grow into a citizen of the world.

“As I age, I find myself thinking of cinema as my primary method of interacting with other cultures,” Telford said. “In my opinion, the beauty of cinema is that it makes explicitly cultural narratives universal, without losing any of that cultural beauty or nuance, which makes it a powerful tool for enriching one’s cultural identity.”