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 off screen through initiatives like Reel Stories, and the challenges and opportunities of disruptors like AI.

Links:

Nell Productions

The Annenberg Institute, affiliated with Brown University, seeks to address educational inequality.

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 AND THE GURLZ. Find out what she's learned about getting your characters into the hearts of YOUR audience - without needing anyone's permission.

 

https://www.youtube.com/@CabblowStudios

https://www.instagram.com/rorisaaang/

#Annecy

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 room when pitching, and how content trends are changing to accommodate the stark issues facing kids today.

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 the screen as an animated feature.

Hear about his beginnings on Tim Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, his learnings at Pixar, working with renowned directors including Pete Docter and his brother, Andrew Stanton, and the chain of events that led him to take a bet on a small African studio with a big dream. #animation #southafrica #davidmovie #pixar #storyboarding #faithbased

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 balancing mission-driven thinking with the capitalist realities of the film business, as well as numerous fascinating details on how the film's stunning visual style and arresting soundtrack were created.

For those considering crowdfunding, you'll also gather insight into the innovative - but complicated - business model with distributor Angel Studios, and the crowdfunding campaign that continues right to the present: preorder tickets are now available and currently have generated over $3 million in sales.