South Africa participates at international animation festival

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South Africa participates at international animation festival --

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 14:14

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The South African delegation which attended the Annecy International Animation Film Festival (AIAFF) in France from 9 to 14 June, reports that there is growing international interest in content being produced by the local industry. Leading animation studio s Triggerfish and Sea Monster joined the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) at the festival to network and represent South Africa as source of quality animated content.

With an exchange rate hovering favourably at approximately R10 to the US dollar, South African animation services offer good value for North American and European companies, and unlike its Asian and Eastern counterparts, it presents less cultural and language barriers and more practical time zones as well as a strong design sensibility.

Glenn Gillis, Managing Director of Sea Monster Entertainment, a South African animation, gaming and app development company, attended AIAFF for the first time and commented that despite the company being a relatively small player in the industry, they experienced a growing interest in their creative concepts.

We seem to have a particular strength in design and pre-production, and broadcasters and production partners have taken note of some of our recent achievements. The Sea Monster team have delivered over 75 hours of broadcast 2D animation, including shows for Cookie Jar, Disney and others. Our innate understanding of humour, the ease of doing business and, our ability to deliver creatively on schedule and on budget has been proven. What this means is that our concepts are not only of a world class standard, but also are production-ready, so that creatively, technically and financially there is more control and predictability, said Gillis.

However, Thandeka Zwana, Production and Development Manager at the NFVF, pointed out that the South African animation industry is not only suited to service international projects and, speaking at the South Africa Territory Focus at AIAFF, she elaborated, The NFVF act as a liaison between the industry and various government departments and one of our most important roles is ensuring that information is shared both ways. Our closest partnerships are with the Department of Trade and Industry who administer all rebates and incentives. The NFVF is responsible for certifying films as either local content or co-productions. Another important partner is the Industrial Development Corporation - the money people who often look to the NFVF for script input when it comes to assessing projects that they are considering for funding.

These two entities have been instrumental in growing our industry by providing South African content producers with vital leverage in terms of raising funding especially for the larger co-productions.

Growing international interest in South Africa s animation offerings provides opportunities for some of the country s smaller boutique studios and independent specialists such as:

Mike Scott , Shy the Sun , Sunrise and Strika Entertainment .

Visit the AIAFF website for more information.

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