Life has a way of presenting challenges and difficulties, but one’s determination to overcome the hurdles is the ultimate test.
Young Francis Y. Brown faced such a situation where he found himself ‘alone’ despite having living family members who could help him. He says complications with his family made it such that he literally had to work his way around staying in school to achieve his dreams of being an animator.
Getting enrolled in the National Film and Television Institute was a start for him. He managed to get support from a few friends and the management to pull through, but after school, even a place to lay his head was a problem.
He ‘begged’ for a place to stay on campus so he could work and pay for the space. On one very ‘dry’ day when he had nothing but gari, which he had to add to his friend’s sugar to eat, he decided to ponder over life.
At this point, he says an idea for an animation piece, which would unknowingly start his journey to fame, came to him.
Speaking to GhanaWeb’s Wonder Ami Hagan on the “People and Places” show, he recounted the events that led to the production of his very first animation work, The Beggar.
“There was this time at the NAFTI hostel; that’s where I was staying. One day I was there, and I didn’t have anywhere to go for vacation, so I pleaded with the administrators to let me stay, and I stayed and paid something small.
“So I was there, and I wasn’t having anything to eat; honestly, I wasn’t having money. All that I had was gari, and a friend of mine was also having sugar, so we had water and mixed it up. But as we were doing this mix, we started pondering on life, and we were like, so if we should die now, we would have family members coming to cry and spend money.
“No matter what, they’ll pay for a tent, pay for chairs, pay for minerals for people to come and eat, but meanwhile, what killed us? Maybe hunger. So as we were saying this, I said this is a beautiful idea for a concept for an animation film, so I will work on it.
“So I started working on it, and the opportunity availed itself for me to make it public. I went to show it, and when we came back, the rector of the school called me, congratulated me, saying that I had really made the school proud. So that gave me a lot of confidence in my storytelling,” he explained.
According to Francis, that was the first step to attaining his dreams of being an animator. Today, with hard work and a great team, Francis Y. Brown, who now owns his animation studio, Animax FYB, has gained recognition on several international platforms. He has also had the opportunity to work with some of these international bodies through his work, to put Ghana on the global map.
“The Beggar is my very first work. I produced it in the year 2009, and anytime I look at it, The Beggar is what actually propelled me and gave me the confidence because when I was producing it, I didn’t have any idea about editing or the real idea behind animation, but I had the passion to tell a story. There was a film conference going on which was allowing filmmakers to present their works and for students also to present their works, and I was determined to go into that.
“It was at CPA at the British Council, which was organized by John Akomfrah, the British filmmaker. So after producing The Beggar, a very good friend of mine from school told me, ‘Hey, I don’t think you should present this film.’ I asked why, and he said, ‘I don’t think it looks good; you are going to embarrass yourself.’
“I said, you know what, leave me alone; I’m going to show it. When he was saying this, we were in a bus going, and I was rendering this work on someone’s laptop. So once we got there, we were asked to show the work, and after showing it, I had a standing ovation, almost for 5 minutes, and I was surprised because that was my first film. But it wasn’t too much about the technicalities but rather the story I was telling,” he added.
Watch Animax FYB Studio CEO, Francis Y. Brown, tell his full story in this edition of People and Places:
