![]() | |
Industry | |
---|---|
Founded | 1996 |
Headquarters | |
Key people |
|
Website | triggerfish |
Triggerfish is a computer animation film studio based in Cape Town, South Africa and Galway, Ireland. The studio is best known for its animated feature films Adventures in Zambezia [1] (2012), Khumba (2013), and Seal Team (2021), [2] as well as the work they have done on television specials created for UK producers Magic Light Pictures. In 2016, Stick Man was awarded the Cristal for best TV production at the Annecy International Animation Festival. [3] In 2017, Revolting Rhymes again won the Cristal for best TV production at the Annecy Festival, [4] and was nominated for the Best Short Film (Animated) Oscar at the 2018 Academy Awards. [5] In 2019, Netflix [6] announced that Triggerfish would produce its first African animated TV series. In 2020, Zog won the International Emmy for Best Kids Animation. [7] In 2021, The Snail and The Whale won Best Special Production at The Annie Awards, [8] while Triggerfish received the Mifa Animation Industry Award at Annecy for "the pioneering role that the company has played in animation in South Africa, and Africa most widely.” [9] In 2022, their third film, Seal Team, made the Netflix Top 10 Films global list for its launch week. [2]
Triggerfish was established in 1996 by Jacquie Trowell and Emma Kaye in Cape Town, South Africa. [10] As a stop-motion animation studio, it produced multiple commercials for South African ad agencies. From 1998 through 2008, Triggerfish produced animation for Sesame Workshop for the South African version of Sesame Street , Takalani Sesame , as well as the US domestic and international versions of the pre-school kids' program.
Stuart Forrest joined as a junior animator in 2002 to work on Takalani Sesame for seasons two and three. In 2004, Forrest and James Middleton became partners in Triggerfish and in 2005 became the sole partners when the original founders left the company. In 2007, Anthony Silverston joined as creative director, and Mike Buckland joined as head of production. At the same time, the company moved away from stop-frame animation and relaunched as a computer animation studio.
In 2015, at the Premier's Entrepreneurship Recognition Awards (PERA), Triggerfish was named Business of the Year by the Western Cape Government. [11]
In 2021, Triggerfish received the Mifa Animation Industry Award at Annecy for "the pioneering role that the company has played in animation in South Africa, and Africa most widely.” [9]
In 2008, Triggerfish created a 30-minute short entitled The Rise and Fall of Tony the Frog. The short was produced by Ambient Animation in Cape Town [12] for Isaac Entertainment.
In 2018, Triggerfish released an original 4-minute short entitled Belly Flop, co-directed by Jeremy Collins and writer Kelly Dillon. This was one of four shorts screened during the closing ceremony at Annecy 2018. [13] A second original short film,Troll Girl premiered at the Cape Town International Animation Festival in 2021. [14]
Triggerfish was one of nine studios selected around the world to produce a short for Star Wars Visions: Volume 2 anthology. The short, entitled "Aau's Song", was released on 4 May 2023. [15]
From 2006, the team began to shift focus to motion pictures by writing their first script Adventures in Zambezia , with US-based rights company Wonderful Works. The script went into production in 2009 and was released in 2012. In 2010, the studio started production on Khumba which started its worldwide release in Q3 2013. Triggerfish's third feature, called Seal Team ., [16] premiered on Netflix on 31 December 2021. [2]
On April 16, 2019, it was announced that Netflix had given a series order for the animated superhero series Mama K's Team 4 . [17] The series is expected to be produced by the studio in collaboration with CAKE. [17] Malenga Mulendema will be credited as an executive producer and writer of the series. [6]
In February 2021, it was announced that eOne had greenlit the animated superhero series Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes , about a seven-year-old African girl whose passions in life are dancing and martial arts. The original idea for Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes was created by Kelly Dillon and Marc Dey, then developed for television by Robert Vargas. Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes launched in March 2023 across linear and streaming platforms including Disney Jr., Disney + globally, and France Télévisions. [18]
In June 2021, it was announced that Disney+ had greenlit Triggerfish's animated anthology series Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire . [19] [20] [21] Inspired by the continent's diverse histories and cultures, the 10-part anthology brings together a slate of rising animation talents from six African nations to produce action-packed sci-fi and fantasy stories that will present bold visions of advanced technology, aliens, spirits and monsters imagined from uniquely African perspectives.
Oscar-winning director Peter Ramsey ( Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ) is as executive producer, with Tendayi Nyeke and Anthony Silverston. Triggerfish is the lead studio for the anthology, working in collaboration with animation studios across the continent and globally. The development process was curated and produced by the team at Triggerfish, including Tendayi Nyeke, Anthony Silverston, and Kevin Kriedemann, who proposed the initial idea for the anthology.
The final 10 films are from Ahmed Teilab (Egypt), Simangaliso “Panda” Sibaya and Malcolm Wope (South Africa), Terence Maluleke and Isaac Mogajane (South Africa), Ng’endo Mukii (Kenya), Shofela Coker (Nigeria), Nthato Mokgata and Terence Neale (South Africa), Pious Nyenyewa and Tafadzwa Hove (Zimbabwe), Tshepo Moche (South Africa), Raymond Malinga (Uganda) and Lesego Vorster (South Africa).
Each film is 10-15 minutes long, and together comprises a feature-length anthology of original animation that will be released as a Disney Plus Original across the globe. [22] [23] The series will release on July 5, 2023. [24] [25]
In mid-2015, Triggerfish announced the Triggerfish Story Lab, a program that aimed to develop African writers and directors. The initiative had the support of the Walt Disney Company. [26] Mama K's Team 4, the first Netflix Original animation series from Africa, was one of the projects unearthed by the Triggerfish Story Lab. [27] A second TV series from the Triggerfish Story Lab, Kiya! (previously Ninja Princess), was announced in February 2021 to have been picked up by Disney+. [28]
In June 2019 Triggerfish launched a free online learning platform aimed at encouraging young creatives to create their first animated film. [29]
# | Title | Release date | Budget | Gross | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Adventures in Zambezia | July 3, 2012 | $20,000,000 | $34,428,345 | 25% | N/A |
2 | Khumba | October 25, 2013 | $20,000,000 | $27,000,000 | 44% | 40 |
3 | Seal Team [16] | December 31, 2021 | $23,000,000 | $905,428 | 68% | N/A |
# | Title | Release date |
---|---|---|
1 | Stick Man [30] (for Magic Light Pictures) | December 25, 2015 |
2 | Revolting Rhymes [31] [32] (for Magic Light Pictures) | December 26, 2016 |
3 | The Highway Rat [33] (for Magic Light Pictures) | December 25, 2017 |
4 | Zog [34] (for Magic Light Pictures) | December 25, 2018 |
5 | The Snail and the Whale [35] (for Magic Light Pictures) | December 25, 2019 |
# | Title | Release date |
---|---|---|
1 | Kiya and the Kimoja Heroes [17] (for Disney+) [36] | March 22, 2023 |
2 | Kizazi Moto [17] (for Disney+) [22] | July 5, 2023 |
3 | Supa Team 4 [17] (for Netflix) | July 20, 2023 |
Prior to its release, Khumba screened in competition at Annecy International Animation Festival 2013, where it was nominated for the Cristal, and was in the Official Selection of Durban International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival 2013.
Production | Ceremony | Category | Recipient | Result | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Snail and The Whale | BAFTA Children and Young People Awards, 2022 [41] | Best Animation | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | ||
BAFTA Children and Young People Awards, 2022 [41] | Best Director | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Annie Awards, 2021 [42] | Best Special Production | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
British Animation Awards, 2020 [43] | Best Voice Performance | Sally Hawkins | Won | |||
British Animation Awards, 2020 [43] | Best Longform, Best Use of Sound | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Nominated | |||
New York International Children's Film Festival, 2020 [44] | Audience Award: Ages 3–5 | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
BANFF Rockie's Awards, 2020 [45] | Best Children's Animation | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Venice TV Awards, 2020 [46] | Children/Youth award | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Cartoons on the Bay, 2020 [47] | Punchinello Award for Best Short Film | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Sapporo International Short Film Festival, 2020 [48] | International Competition: Children's Short Bronze Award | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Xiamen International Animation Festival, 2020 | Silver Award, Best Animated Short Film | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Chicago International Children's Film Festival, 2020 | 2nd Prize, Animated TV [49] | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Zog | International Emmy Awards, 2020 [50] | Best Kids Animation | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | ||
Royal Television Society, 2020 [51] | Children's Programme Award | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Shanghai International TV Festival, 2019 [52] | Best Animation | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
New York International Children's Festival, 2019 [50] | Audience Award: 3-6 | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Annie Awards, 2020 [53] | Best Special Production and Best Storyboarding (Max Lang) | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Nominated | |||
British Animation Awards, 2020 [54] | Best Longform | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Nominated | |||
Kidscreen, 2020 [54] | Best One-Off, Special or TV Movie | Max Lang, Daniel Snaddon & Magic Light Pictures | Nominated | |||
The Highway Rat | Rose d'Or [55] | Children and Youth | Magic Light Pictures | Won | ||
New York International Children's Film Festival, 2018 [54] | Audience Award: 3-6 | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Vila do Conde International Short Film Festival, 2018 [54] | Curtinhas Prize | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Annecy International Animated Film Festival, 2018 [54] | Best TV Special | Magic Light Pictures | Nominated | |||
Annie Awards, 2019 [54] | Best Animated Special Production | Magic Light Pictures | Nominated | |||
Revolting Rhymes | 90th Academy Awards [56] | Best Animated Short Film | Jakob Schuh | Jan Lachauer | Nominated | |
70th British Academy Film Awards [57] | Best Animation | Jakob Schuh | Jan Lachauer | Martin Pope | Michael Rose | Won |
6th International Emmy Kids Awards [58] | Kids: Animation | Michael Rose | Martin Pope | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |
Annecy, 2017 [59] | Best TV Special | Jakob Schuh | Jan Lachauer | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |
Annie Awards, 2018 [59] | Best Animated Special Production | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Kidscreen Awards, 2018 [59] | Best One-Off, Special or TV Movie: Kids | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Shanghai International TV Festival, 2017 [59] | Best Storytelling: Animation | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Stick Man | 69th British Academy Film Awards [60] | Best Animation | Production Team | Nominated | ||
British Animation Awards [61] | Best Use of Sound | Adrian Rhodes | Magic Light Pictures | Won | ||
Best Voice Performance | Martin Freeman | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Best Long Form | Jeroen Jaspaert | Daniel Snaddon | Magic Light Pictures | Nominated | ||
Annecy International Animated Film Festival [62] | Best TV Production | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Kidscreen Awards [62] | Best One-Off, Special or TV Movie: Kids; Best Directing (Jeroen Jaspaert); Best Music (Adrian Rhodes); and Best Design (Sam King) | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Banff Television Festival [62] | Best Animation | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Shanghai International TV Festival [62] | Best Animation | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Singapore International Children's Film Festival [62] | Audience Choice Award | Magic Light Pictures | Won | |||
Bangalore Shorts Film Festival [62] | Best Animation | Magic Light Pictures | Won |
Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio is based in Culver City, California. Most of the studio's films are distributed worldwide by Sony Pictures Releasing under their Columbia Pictures label, while direct-to-video releases are released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
James Baxter is a British character animator. He was first known for his work on several Walt Disney Animation Studios films, including various characters in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Rafiki in The Lion King, and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Peter A. Ramsey is an American illustrator, storyboard artist, and filmmaker. He is best known for directing DreamWorks Animation's Rise of the Guardians (2012), becoming the first African American to direct a major American animated film, and co-directing Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018). For Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, he became the first African American to be nominated for and win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Jorge R. Gutierrez is a Mexican-American animator, writer, producer, director, painter, and voice actor. He co-created with Sandra Equihua the Nickelodeon animated series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, co-wrote and directed The Book of Life, Son of Jaguar for Google, and Maya and the Three for Netflix Animation.
Titmouse, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Los Angeles, California founded in 2000 that develops and produces animated television programming, feature films, music videos, title sequences, commercials, and short films.
Voronezh Animation Studio is a Russian animation film, short film and television studio based in Voronezh. The studio specializes in the production of animated feature films, television shows and their distribution and promotion in the domestic and international markets. The studio was formed in 2007 from a company specializing in software development, multimedia and software localization. Originally founded under the name InlayFilm, it rebranded as Wizart Animation in 2012. In August 2022, the company changed its name to Voronezh Animation Studio.
Get a Horse! is a 2013 American animated comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by Lauren MacMullan. Combining black-and-white hand-drawn animation and color computer animation, the short features the characters of the late 1920s Mickey Mouse cartoons.
The Animation Industry in South Africa encompasses traditional 2D animation, 3D animation and visual effects for feature films.
Tito and the Birds is a 2018 Brazilian animated film.
Science Saru, Inc., stylized as Science SARU, is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Kichijōji, Tokyo. Established on February 4, 2013, by producer Eunyoung Choi and director Masaaki Yuasa, the studio has produced four feature films and five animated series, as well as co-productions, a compilation film, and episodes of series for other studios. Science Saru's first animation was the "Food Chain" episode of the American animated series Adventure Time (2014); its most recent projects are the animated feature film Inu-Oh (2021), two short films for the animated anthology project Star Wars: Visions (2021), and the animated series The Heike Story (2021), Yurei Deco (2022), and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023).
Short Circuit is a series of American independent animated short films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Similar to the SparkShorts program launched at sister animation studio Pixar, the series is a program in which the employees pitch their ideas for a short and work with fellow employees to create the short if selected, and is meant to take risks in both visual styles and storytelling.
Iwájú is an animated science fiction miniseries produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and the Pan-African British-based entertainment company Kugali Media for the streaming service Disney+. It was written by Olufikayo Adeola and Halima Hudson from a story by Adeola, Hamid Ibrahim, and Toluwalakin Olowofoyeku and directed by Adeola, and is the first "original long-form animated series" produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The title of the series, iwájú, roughly translates to "the future" in the Yoruba language.
The Snail and the Whale is a 2019 British-South African short computer-animated TV film, directed by Max Lang and Daniel Snaddon, and produced by Michael Rose and Martin Pope of Magic Light Pictures, in association with Triggerfish Animation Studios where the film was animated.
Africanfuturism is a cultural aesthetic and philosophy of science that centers on the fusion of African culture, history, mythology, point of view, with technology based in Africa and not limiting to the diaspora. It was coined by Nigerian American writer Nnedi Okorafor in 2019 in a blog post as a single word. Nnedi Okorafor defines Africanfuturism as a sub-category of science fiction that is "directly rooted in African culture, history, mythology and point-of-view..and...does not privilege or center the West," is centered with optimistic "visions in the future," and is written by "people of African descent" while rooted in the African continent. As such its center is African, often does extend upon the continent of Africa, and includes the Black diaspora, including fantasy that is set in the future, making a narrative "more science fiction than fantasy" and typically has mystical elements. It is different from Afrofuturism, which focuses mainly on the African diaspora, particularly the United States. Works of Africanfuturism include science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror and magic realism.
Eunyoung Choi (Korean: 최은영) is a South Korean studio executive, producer, director and animator. She is the President and CEO of Science Saru, a Japanese animation studio which she co-founded with Masaaki Yuasa in 2013, and has served as producer of the company's works. In 2020, following the announcement that Yuasa would step down from an executive role at Science Saru, Choi assumed responsibility for the management of the studio. In 2021, she directed a short animated film entitled Akakiri for the short film anthology Star Wars: Visions.
Nimona is a 2023 American animated science fantasy film directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane from a screenplay by Robert L. Baird and Lloyd Taylor. It is based on the 2015 graphic novel of the same name by ND Stevenson. Set in a science fantasy world influenced by the Middle Ages, the film features the voices of Chloë Grace Moretz as the eponymous shapeshifting character and Riz Ahmed as her boss and former knight Ballister, with Eugene Lee Yang and Frances Conroy voicing supporting roles.
Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes is an animated television series created by Kelly Dillon, Marc Dey and Robert Vargas, and premiered on Disney Junior on March 22, 2023. The series is co-produced by Triggerfish Animation Studios, Frog Box Productions, Entertainment One and TeamTO, with the participation of France Télévisions and Disney Junior.
Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire is an Afrofuturist and Africanfuturist animated anthology short film series produced by Triggerfish. It premiered on July 5, 2023, on Disney+. It received generally positive reviews from critics.