Growing up, the film and animation industries played a tremendous role in storytelling, representation and identity formation. Many a time, as children, we found ourselves declaring, ‘I’m Mulan’, ‘I’m Sharpay’ and ‘You’re Gabriella’, as we grew attached to the characters we wished to be like or with whom we related most.
Suffice it to say there are a multitude of mystical, exotic and out-of-this-world characters that may be perceived as universally relatable, but as Africans and South Africans, how often are some of us able to wholeheartedly see authentic versions of ourselves on screen?
While simultaneously shattering stereotypes of Africans and creating homegrown animations that reflect ourselves, our lives and our cultures to the fore, the South African film and animation industry is breaking through onto the international stage, with major local productions debuting on two of the world’s most popular streaming platforms.
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Netflix announced that its first African animated series, Supa Team 4, will launch globally on 20 July.
Created by Zambian storyteller Malenga Mulendema, it has been produced by Cape Town’s Triggerfish Animation Studios in collaboration with London-based kids’ entertainment specialist CAKE, with support from Superprod Animation in France.
And this week, Disney+ debuted a short film in its animated Star Wars: Visions anthology, directed by South Africans Nadia Darries and Daniel Clarke, and also produced by Triggerfish.
‘Africa has a rich storytelling heritage with a dynamic young population that is stepping forward and proudly making an impact on the global stage, and we’re investing in that energy because people want to see themselves and their stories on screen,’ says Dominique Bazay, director of kids animated series at Netflix.
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On a mission to use live-action films and television to tell African stories after growing up wondering why no heroes looked like her when watching cartoons, Malenga Mulendema won the pan-African talent hunt initiative, Triggerfish Story Lab, which sought to create Africa-centred episodic TV content and animated feature films for the global market.
‘I guess I had never seen it so I couldn’t imagine it happening. Every step the project has progressed in the last seven years, from idea to final product, has been a wonderful, surreal experience,’ Mulendema told Gadget.
Bazay says that Supa Team 4 represented a landmark for African animation on the global stage.
Filmed across Lusaka, Cape Town and London, the upcoming animated series follows four teenage girls living in the neo-futuristic African city of Lusaka, Zambia, who are recruited by a retired secret agent to save the world as undercover superheroes.
While they navigate their journey from schoolgirls barely keeping up with homework and everyday teen dramas to superheroes fending off supervillains, the motley crew of friends is transformed into Supa Team 4.
The final episode of the second volume of the Star Wars: Visions anthology, Aau’s Song, was a significant turning point for Triggerfish and the episode’s young directors.
Nadia Darries, who grew up on the Cape Flats, and Daniel Clarke, from Bergvliet in Cape Town, say they could not quite believe they had been selected.
‘Triggerfish put out a call for story pitches after being approached by (Star Wars creator) Lucasfilm,’ says Darries. ‘My pitch got shortlisted, and then Daniel and I met. We decided to approach the drawing board together and collaborate on a final pitch to Lucasfilm. A few weeks later, we were told our pitch was selected.’
‘It took a while for it to sink in, but we immediately started to prepare. We were both aware of the gravity that… Star Wars had, and wanted to find a way to simultaneously honour the world that so many people love while at the same time tell a story that was true to our own lives and experiences,’ says Clarke.
The short film is packed with the essence of South African culture, from the relationship between Aau and her stern father or the the sangoma jedi to the characters’ distinctive felt textures inspired by Ndebele dolls and the landscape inspired by Chapman’s Peak and fynbos.
The short film – currently available on Disney+ and ranked as ‘the best episode’ – follows a girl who has a calling to sing but is raised by her loving, stern father to stay quiet due to the calamitous effect her voice has on the crystals (the kyber used to power lightsabers) in the nearby mines.
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Picture: Triggerfish Animation / Facebook
