Ethiopia’s ‘Sunday Morning’ Wins at Annecy, Draws Disney
ETHIOPIA · FILM
Key Facts
—The double win: Ethiopian short Sunday Morning won the AGrAF Award (TV Series and Specials) and the Disney Television Animation Award at MIFA 2026, the market of the Annecy festival.
—The film: Four siblings turn a quiet Sunday morning into an adventure while trying not to wake their mother — a memory of childhood Sundays in Addis Ababa.
—The team: Written and directed by Minasie Terefe, with artwork by Milkias Yitref, Ephrem Terefe and Ermias Assefa, at the Beharger lij studio in Addis Ababa.
—The Disney deal: Disney Channel and Disney+ have secured a development option to adapt the short into an animated series.
—The reality check: Ethiopia has never produced a fully domestic animated feature or series; its studios live on advertising and commissioned work.
—The wave behind it: Ten East African studios joined MIFA 2026 in a regional delegation — chosen from 31 applicants across Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.
Ethiopian animation has its first global breakout. Sunday Morning, a short from the Addis Ababa studio Beharger lij, won the AGrAF and Disney Television Animation awards at Annecy’s MIFA market, and Disney has taken a development option to turn it into a series. For a scene its own founder says is still in its infancy, it is a door swinging open.
A milestone for Ethiopian animation
The double honour came at the International Animation Film Market, MIFA. It runs alongside the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, and has been the industry’s leading global marketplace since 1985.
Sunday Morning took the AGrAF Award in the TV Series and Specials category. It also won the Disney Television Animation Award.
No Ethiopian project had ever drawn that kind of attention at Annecy. The wins put a country with no formal animation industry onto buyers’ maps.
Semafor Africa described the moment as East African animators breaking onto the global stage. Africa’s established hubs sit in Lagos, Cape Town and Cairo, and now the prize list has an Addis Ababa address on it.
The film Disney noticed
Minasie Terefe wrote and directed the short, with artwork by Milkias Yitref, Ephrem Terefe and Ermias Assefa. It follows four siblings who turn a quiet Sunday morning into an adventure while trying not to wake their mother, drawn from the team’s own childhood Sundays.
Terefe trained as an architect before leaving the profession for animation, and his studio’s earlier short, Endegna, toured several international festivals. The new film has now secured a development option for a series adaptation with Disney Channel and Disney+.
“I can’t even call it an industry yet”
The wins say as much about what is missing as what is possible. “I can’t even call it an industry yet because it is still in its infancy,” Terefe said of Ethiopia’s animation scene, in remarks reported by Ecofin Agency.
Beharger lij earns most of its revenue from advertising campaigns and commissioned work for local companies and the Ethiopian diaspora. Ethiopia has yet to produce a fully domestic animated feature film or television series.
East Africa arrives at Annecy
The Ethiopian win rode a wider regional push. For the second year running, ten East African studios travelled to MIFA in a delegation organised by the French Embassy in Kenya with the Kenya Film Commission, Alliance Française chapters and regional industry groups.
The call for applications drew 31 studios from five countries — 17 from Kenya, 7 from Ethiopia, 4 from Uganda, 2 from Rwanda and 1 from Tanzania. Five were chosen to pitch projects directly to international buyers, among them Kenya’s Studio M&A, a national Best Animation award winner.
The delegation model is deliberate. It gives small studios a booth, meetings and a market vocabulary, and lets the work compete. Two editions in, an Ethiopian short has turned that access into a Disney option.
Why it matters for Africa’s creative economy
Global streamers are competing for African stories, and animation travels across borders more easily than live action. A Disney option on an Addis Ababa short signals that the pipeline can now run from East African studios straight to global platforms.
A development option typically funds scripts, design and a pilot pathway while the platform decides whether to order a full series. Even if the series never lands, the signal to financiers is that East African stories can clear a global bar.
The test, industry observers caution, is what follows the applause. Funding, training and distribution remain thin across the region.
But the direction matches a broader cultural surge from the continent — the same one that just made Burna Boy Africa’s most-streamed artist on Spotify. It gives Eastern Africa‘s creators a commercial argument, not just a cultural one.
More: Ethiopia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What awards did Sunday Morning win at Annecy?
It won the AGrAF Award in the TV Series and Specials category and the Disney Television Animation Award, both at MIFA 2026. MIFA is the industry market held alongside the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France.
Who made Sunday Morning?
Minasie Terefe wrote and directed the short at Beharger lij, the studio he co-founded in Addis Ababa, with artwork by Milkias Yitref, Ephrem Terefe and Ermias Assefa. It follows four siblings trying not to wake their mother on a quiet Sunday.
What has Disney agreed to?
Disney Channel and Disney+ secured a development option to adapt Sunday Morning into an animated series. An option funds development work but does not by itself guarantee the series will be made.
Does Ethiopia have an animation industry?
Its own creators say not yet. Terefe calls it an ecosystem still in its infancy, and Ethiopia has not produced a fully domestic animated feature film or television series. Studios currently live on advertising and commissioned work.
Connected Coverage
For more from the region, see how Burna Boy became Africa’s most-streamed artist on Spotify and how Ethiopia is building Africa’s largest airport near Addis Ababa.
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