LAST year, Cape Town’s Triggerfish animation studios gave us the Diff award-winning Adventures in Zambezia.
Its latest offering, Khumba, is a South African-American 3D animated film which premiered at SunCoast Casino. It is directed, produced and written by Anthony Silverston. The cast includes Jake T Austin (Khumba), Anna Sophia Robb (Tombi the zebra), Liam Neeson (Pango the leopard), Loretta Devine (Mama V the wildebeest), Richard E Grant (Bradley the ostrich) and Charlie Adler (wild dog).
Khumba is a half-striped zebra who is rejected by his insular and superstitious herd and blamed for a sudden drought affecting the land. He embarks on a daring quest to earn his stripes and travels across the Karoo to find the legendary waterhole where the first zebras got their stripes.
Along the way, Khumba encounters a range of characters who teach him that diversity is essential for survival and that differences can, in fact, be strengths.
The film was well received by the pupils at the premiere and it was evident that they thoroughly enjoyed the humour, the storyline and the visual effects of the 3D animation. They particularly enjoyed the quirky characters and burst into giggles frequently.
After the screening, Tonight caught up with director Silverston to find out how he developed the concept of the film.
“I had the idea about 10 years ago. When I was writing it, I always imagined how it would look.
“It was a combination of different things, just growing up as a child and feeling different and figuring that out. Being a South African and going overseas and people asking why I’m not black.
“It made me think about what makes me South African, so it was my own identity being questioned. And I have a science background, so I was interested in the actual story of the quagga, which is the half- striped zebra, and that question of how something is described as a different species just because it looks different.”
Steering the conversation to the evolution of 3D animation over the years, the director said: “Because the technology has become better, it’s easier to work with. And the energy can be spent on creative things instead of technology, so in that sense I think animation has become more open to creativity.”
In terms of the making of Khumba, Silverston explained that they really enjoyed the process: “It’s such a long procedure but we had a really good team. We had fun making the film. I liked working with everyone and we became a family actually. Because we were making something that had to be entertaining, we were kind of entertaining each other in a way. So when we were brainstorming it was fun. Something like this is what it’s all about. Seeing other people enjoy your work and the response.
“I feel the message is important and it’s great that the message does come through in an entertainment film.
“In terms of the challenges, because it takes so long to make, it’s hard to keep up the morale. For me, because I was a first-time director, I would doubt my decisions sometimes and there’s not really room for that.
“Because we’re working on a small budget, we have to be quite efficient. There’s a lot of responsibility to make something work. I knew we had a good concept and story, but it’s one thing to have a good idea and another to actually make a 90-minute film that worked.”
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