Khumba, the forthcoming movie from Triggerfish Animation Studios, is one of only five films selected to be screened at part of the kids section at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which is currently running (5-15 September).
This is also the film's North American premiere, following its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and its African launch at 2013 Durban International Film Festival last month.
Khumba follows the adventures of a young zebra born with only half his stripes. When his superstitious herd blame him for the sudden drought affecting the land, he teams up with a sassy wildebeest and a flamboyant ostrich to find the legendary waterhole where the first zebras got their stripes. On his daring quest across the Great Karoo desert, Khumba meets a host of quirky characters and comes face-to-face with a tyrannical leopard in an epic battle to earn his stripes. It features a stellar international voice cast including Liam Neeson, Lawrence Fishburne, Steve Buscemi, Richard E. Grant and British comedian Catherine Tate.
The movie is the second international release from Triggerfish Animation whose first animated film "Adventures in Zambezia" has released successfully across the world and which last week won the Best Children's Feature at Anima Mundi in Rio, Brazil.
Based in Constantia, Cape Town, the studio has quickly become a major player in the development of South Africa's thriving local industry and one of Africa's most exciting technology companies. Established in 1996 as a boutique stop-frame animation studio, it has made some of South Africa's most memorable commercials and in 2001 was invited to produce the animation for Takelani Sesame. This project (over 40 minutes of animation) is still the largest international animation project ever awarded to a South African company and on its strength it was commissioned to produce animation for the US Sesame Street. Since then it has grown into one of Africa's largest CG animation companies, employing some of the continent's most talented digital artists and developers. It is no wonder that Forbes recently referred to the studio as "Africa's answer to DreamWorks, Disney and Pixar."
With the launch of Khumba, and a third film in the pipeline, it is hoped that the studio will continue to grow the blossoming South African film industry and open the door to future animators and filmmakers. Khumba has already been sold to over 40 territories by LA-based sales agent Cinema Management Group with a number of deals in other major territories yet to be finalised at Toronto.
Indigenous Film Distribution will release Khumba in South Africa on 25 October and it is the first time that animated movie has been made available in both English and Afrikaans, which is sure to delight the local audiences.
For more information, go to www.KhumbaMovie.com, follow on www.facebook.com/KhumbaMovie and Twitter @KhumbaMovie.
