The "Pixar of South Africa"

South Africa certainly doesn't have the kind of access to entertainment funding that Hollywood does, so I was quite excited to read today that Triggerfish Animation Studios - which has been dubbed the "Pixar of South Africa" - secured development funding that it says will allow it to develop the first two projects in a slate of five movies.

Triggerfish's first two features, Zambezia, starring Samuel L. Jackson among other voice actors, and Khumba, starring the voices of Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne and Steve Buscemi, have performed well in South Africa and beyond.

Although Triggerfish's stories so far have been set in Africa, the company has said it has "a global vision to create animated films with universal messages for all ages."

The Cape Town-based company will first focus on a sea monster adventure Here Be Monsters and a new project with the working title Seal Team.

Here Be Monsters will tell the story of a boy and a sea monster, marking the studio's first foray into animating human characters.

 

Seal Team is described as an action-comedy that pits a group of seals against the great white sharks of South Africa.

According to the CEO, Stuart Forrest, Zambezia has grossed more than $30 million to-date. “I believe it is the highest-grossing South African-owned film in around 30 years,” he recently said.

Khumba, which has been at festivals and film markets all year, is currently in cinemas in South Africa. It has held the top spot for two weeks and will be rolling out throughout the rest of the world going into 2014.

Being a big fan of Pixar movies, I'm quite excited to hear of more movies of this kind coming to our screens.  And if they're from South Africa - even better!