Animation South Africa Podcast

Pixar vet Esther Pearl, wrangler of Story and Art on titles including Monsters Inc, The Incredibles and Wall-E, talks to Julia Smuts Louw about the tumultuous state of the animation industry and offers advice for those breaking in. We delved into the upbringing that forged her can-do attitude towards changing the media landscape, her passion for empowering women and championing diversity on and of...

From drawing in the margins of her mum's medical reference books, to studying at Gobelins Summer School, to getting into Annecy with her first short film, Kabelo Maaka has walked a unique path as a 2D animator and business owner. Cabblow Studios, the business she co-founded with her mother, Dr Tshepo Maaka, is now building a grassroots audience for her multi-platform animated property, RORISANG AN...

Alex Rockwell, Jim Henson's long-time right-hand woman, talks kids' content in today's animation landscape. From her experience wrangling muppets to her work on beloved kids' shows like Slumberkins and Word Party, Alex has gotten to grips with kids' content in just about every format. Tune in to find out how to identify your audience, how to find the "sticky things" that create confidence in the r...

DAVID had a resounding opening weekend at the box office, beating out the animated competition to come in at second place behind AVATAR PART 3! Find out why Pixar story artist Nathan Stanton, veteran of beloved titles including RATATOUILLE, WALL-E and FINDING NEMO, moved his family to Cape Town to help Sunrise Animation realise their longstanding dream of bringing the life of the Biblical David to...

This December 19th, DAVID, the Biblical epic from Sunrise Animation Studios, will be hitting theatres! In this first episode of the new season, host Julia Smuts Louw speaks with Brent Dawes about the equally epic journey it took to bring this labour of love to life. Join us to hear how the team wrestled with bringing scripture to a modern audience in a fraught political times, the challenge of bal...

Live from locked-down New York, Blue Sky's Jasmine Katatikarn tells us about her work as Senior Lighting TD, and the school she runs with colleague Mike Tanzillo, teaching the subtle art of lighting to students around the world.

Voice director Ned Lott talks about his career at the Disney dubbing group, including his opus: the seven Ghibli dubs that brought Hayao Miyazaki's films to an English-speaking audience. He is now working with Triggerfish on their new feature, Seal Team.

David Prescott, the VFX ninja grandmaster behind milestone box office hits like Titanic, Avatar, X-Men and Transformers, talks to Julia Smuts Louw about imposter syndrome, the importance of showers, and why there is nothing left for the VFX industry to do. Fighting talk...

We interview Aron Warner, producer of SHREK (and voice of the Wolf) about his new slate of international projects to be produced by Sony - as just announced at Annecy.

Peter Ramsey, director of the Oscar-winning animated feature Spiderman: into the Spiderverse, was a star speaker at this year's Cape Town International Animation Festival. Animation SA chatted to him about the film's innovative technical and artistic approach, and what the film means for Africans all over the world. Warning: spoilers abound!

Robert Valley, creator of the Oscar-nominated short film PEAR CIDER & CIGARETTES, offers his tips for Kickstarting a film project and shmoozing iconic bands.

Isaac Mogajane of Diprente Films and freelance rigging guru Judd Simantov discuss their collaboration on the kids' fantasy series, ANANSI, recently picked up for international distribution by InkGroup.

Animation SA chats to Michael Rose of Magic Light Pictures about the Academy Award-nominated animated short, Revolting Rhymes, and how they turned their adaptation of Julia Donaldson's runaway bestseller, The Gruffalo, into an international cottage industry.

Animation SA chats to Ruan Rothmann and Marcelle Marais of Free Lives, the indie gaming studio whose breakout 2012 hit, BROFORCE, put South Africa on the map with Steam users. They followed up with the startling multiplayer “party game,” GENITAL JOUSTING in 2016(clearly we’ve been going to the wrong parties). GORN, their first adventure in “visceral reality,” has received “overwhelmingly positive”...

Animation lecturer Lesego Vorster is the first South African to be accepted into the prestigious Masters programme at Gobelins l'Ecole de l'Image in Paris. He told ASA about learning at the knee of Guillermo del Toro, why we shouldn't imitate our heroes, and the importance of a lifelong reading habit.

Animation SA chats to Pixar editor Kevin Nolting about his work on 2015's Oscar-winning animated blockbuster, Inside Out. Directed by Pete Docter, the film personifies the core emotions that drive the decisions of a young girl named Riley. As Nolting relates, it proved one of the most challenging project Pixar had ever tackled. Who ever thought understanding an eleven-year-old could be that hard?...

Director Alexandre Heboyan chats to Julia Smuts Louw about his feature film MUNE: GUARDIAN OF THE MOON, his new VR project, and the value of "gaining altitude" on your work.

Jeroen Jaspaert and Daniel Snaddon, directors of the BBC Christmas Special STICK MAN, talk about the journey of one sentient stick... all the way from the imagination of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, to the shores of South Africa, to France for a stunning win at Annecy, and now, to the BAFTAs! Jaspaert and Snaddon were thrown together in an "arranged marriage" for this UK/South Africa co-pro...

What can a former vice cop tell us about animation screenwriting? We chat to Phil Lorin, cowriter of Pixar's CARS, who consulted for Triggerfish Storylab on their feature projects. If you're keen on getting involved with South African animation, sign up for our newsletter or get an Animation SA membership at www.animationsa.org!

Animation South Africa chats to local animation legend Mike Scott about his love children, Bru and Boegie, and the importance of knowing your creative non-negotiables.