How to apply for the Gobelins-Netflix scholarship for African Animators

Netflix Grow Creative and GOBELINS – a school of visual communication and arts in Paris- announced they would offer six Master’s scholarships to African students for their Master of Arts in Character Animation and Animated Filmmaking programme, September 2023 intake.

The admission is part of a joint effort by the institutions to increase the pipeline of new Animation talent in Africa. The scholarship is for a two-year program taught in English and designed to enable students to reach a professional level, notably in directing and storytelling in a multicultural environment.

The scholarship will cover the tuition fees for the entire program (2 years) and some of the living costs in Paris.

In addition to exercises in writing, storyboarding, and complex animation (mixed techniques and interacting characters), students participate in an open-themed end-of-studies film in conditions similar to a professional environment.

Registration for the program has begun, and the applications will be closed on the 2nd of March, 2023. The scholarship selection will be announced at the end of April 2023 for students to begin their academic year in September 2023.

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How to apply for the Gobelins-Netflix scholarship

Applicants must complete their registration process on Gobelins‘ website to kickstart their application. Afterwards, the candidate will receive an email containing the information allowing them to connect to their file.

An entrance exam is required for all applicants. French or English will be used for the Master of Arts in Character Animation and Animated Filmmaking. As a result, if chosen, candidates must make their decision and express it during the oral interview. The decision about whether the candidate will be enrolled in the French or English program ultimately rests with the Jury.

The recruitment and entrance exam procedures, as well as the link for the payment of the application costs, will be communicated to the candidate via email if the school deems their wish(s) acceptable. The next step is submitting the supporting documentation in five separate pdf files.

• In the “CV” section and in a single PDF document: place a resume AND a cover letter
• In the “Titre d’Identité : Recto verso de la Carte d’Identité/Carte de séjour/Passeport” and in a single PDF document: place a valid ID document (National identity card recto/verso or passport)
• In the “Bulletins de notes des deux dernières années” section and in a single PDF document: place the 3 last school grade reports
• In the “Document complémentaire A” section and in a single PDF: place your highest degree completed
• In the “Attestation de paiement pour les frais de dossier” section of “pour les formations assujetties à frais de
• dossier” and in a single PDF document: scan the invoice proving the payment of the application fees

Furthermore, candidates are to create a 2-minute (max) motivational video detailing their professional project and reasons for choosing this course, only in English. The video will be uploaded to the Tumblr blog explicitly created for the contest and should not exceed 100 MB. Candidates are advised and recommended to prepare it in QuickTime or mp4 format with H264 compression.

The demo reel (mp4, 2 minutes maximum) of the completed work (personal and/or professional) serves to enlighten every applicant’s animator and director skills: animation (2D and 3D), modelling, layout, set-up, textures, camera mapping, compositing, lightning.

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The video should be done with the following requirements in mind:

• Opening title card with your name and first name (maximum 2 seconds long)
• No background music
• If group work, please mention your role or roles (either with onscreen text or via voiceover)
• For 2D and 3D exercises: mention the techniques employed
• Show ‘making-of’ footage for group work
• Graphic design, artwork and drawing sequence (2 seconds max per still image)
• Closing title card with a list of software used (maximum 2 seconds)

There are no age limits for any candidate. However, they are expected to have three years of higher education in animation cinema and/or professional experience in this field.