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Zambezia from Triggerfish Animation on Vimeo.
While Nollywood can boast the largest output of films (albeit on video) after Bollywood, it seems South Africa is making serious money-making strides of more universal appeal. Whilst browsing the Screen Africa website I came across a recruitment ad placed this week for a wide variety of positions available due to the expansion of the team behind the production of Zambezia, “a pioneering CG animation feature to be produced in Africa.”Intrigued, my mind went to the only other animation film from Africa I could think of, a 1977 Nigerian film (pre-Nollywood) called Bisi, Daughter of The River co-directed by Jab Adu and Ladi Ladebo. If memory serves me correctly, it was actually live action combined with animation and, while I have lingering images of a young woman (played by British-Nigerian actress, Patti Boulaye) wading into a river in the ethereal surroundings of animated landscape and creatures, I’ve tried, and failed, over the years, to find out what became of that film as I only ever saw clips/trailers of it on Nigerian television in the 70s – no doubt part of the promotions for FESTAC ‘77 (the 2nd World Black & African Festival of Arts & Culture).According to Mohamed Ghazala of the Fine Arts Faculty, Minia University, Egypt, African animation started about 70 years ago in Egypt and was founded by the Frenkel brothers who were not professional artists or animators, but Jewish carpenters who immigrated to Egypt from Russia in search of freedom and work and achieved the unexpected; the first African animated cartoon throughout Africa.Ghazala, in his blog post, The History of African Animation, writes that the hero of the 10 minute film, In Vain (Mafish fayda), was Mish Mish Effendi, who, he says, was the prototype of Disney’s well-known Mickey Mouse. Unfortunately this film was lost when Cairo burned in 1951. However, The Frenkel brothers’ second film, National Defense, is still preserved.Currently, African animation only exists in Egypt and South Africa, with about 50 animation studios producing animation commercially for Egypt and other African and Middle Eastern countries.So, back to Zambezia which, sure enough, is from a South African animation studio, Triggerfish. According to a September ‘08 article in Screen Daily, Cinema Management Group (CMG) president, Edward Noeltner, picked up international rights for the 3D animated feature ahead of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival.According to the Screen Daily article:“This an exciting and visually exhilarating story with wonderful moral values which, much like Disney’s Lion King, will appeal to audiences of all ages in every corner of the globe,” Noeltner said. “We are very excited to be offering Zambezia for the very first time in Toronto where we have footage from the film to screen along with a full plate of new projects to offer.”And from the blurb on CMG’s website:On the edge of an enormous waterfall, in the heart of Africa, lies the bird city of Zambezia. Famous for its impregnable defenses against egg predators, it has become the breeding sanctuary for birds from throughout the river valley. With half of its massive Baobab shell gone, Zambezia City is the ultimate tree house, humming with birds on every level, from its roots at the base, to the platforms high in the leafy tops.Aero, a young Taita Falcon from a remote outpost, is the protagonist of the story. He dreams of flying on the prestigious River Watch. When Aero’s father is captured by the treacherous Marabous, he is forced to abandon his outpost and flee to Zambezia. However, Aero soon finds himself at the centre of a deadly plot concocted by the Marabous – who have joined forces with giant, egg-eating lizards – to overthrow Zambezia and return things back to “every bird for himself”. If Aero is to save Zambezia, he will have to learn that not all battles are won with fast and fancy flying.Set in the spectacular Zambezi River Valley, the film draws on this unique natural environment as its inspiration – an inspiration which can be seen in the beautiful, quintessentially African elements of the film.But it would seem that CMG (who also hold the international sales rights to the recent dramatic feature, African Violet) also snapped up another Triggerfish project because they also own rights to Khumba, “the story of a half-striped zebra, born into an insular, isolated herd obsessed with stripes. Rumors that the strange foal is cursed spread and, before long, he is blamed for the drought that sets in. When his father, the leader of the herd, blames him for the lack of rain and the subsequent death of his mother, the outcast zebra leaves the confines of his home knowing that he cannot survive in the herd without all his stripes.” Both Zambezia and Khumba are due for release in 2011.Another South African animation, which is slated for international release this year, is Kalahari, the story of Crash, a cheetah who is the fastest cat in Africa, but who has the inability to corner. When his mother is lost in a brush fire, he is adopted by a family of meerkats who try to teach him how to be a cheetah, and help him find his “chee” (inner spirit) in order to corner. According to Wikipedia, “Hollywood producer Laszlo Bene assembled the film’s crew, which fully comprises personnel from the local entertainment industry. The film’s $23 million budget was financed by offshore funds and Johannesburg investors. Its production details were kept secret during its development, which took place throughout most of 2006.”Kalahari is reported be released in the United States by a major distribution company and will be South Africa’s second animated film after the 2007 film Tengers, a full-length claymation satirical black comedy about life in post-Apartheid South Africa.Maybe it’s because most of the animators, from the Frenkel brothers to the Triggerfish team, aren’t indigenous Africans but, apart from Bisi, Daughter of the River and Tengers, animals seem to feature predominantly in most of these films, seemingly raising the profile of Africa for international audiences without actually featuring indigenous African people. To be fair, Triggerfish’s 2009 show reel does have several black characters featured, but I’m guessing these are for local South African TV consumption, and that they’re going with the Lion King and Madagascar -type models where it would seem that epic or romanticised visions of Africa are considered more palatable to mainstream international audiences when presented with adorable four-legged or winged creatures. Given their varied stock of characters, I wonder if Triggerfish will one day break that mold and give international audiences some loveable, entertaining African characters that are actually human… or maybe even be beaten to it by one of the other 49 African animation studios!Zambezia Trailer