Kabelo Maaka and Dr Tshepo Maaka’s documentary short "3 Teaspoons of Sugar" focuses on three individuals who share their experiences living with diabetes.
The educational animation had its independent world premiere on World Diabetes Day on November 14, 2019 and screened online for the 2020 Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June.
In a household where mealtime is a delightful feast full of bonding, fellowship and good eating, three members of this tight knit family are diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus.
Director Kabelo ‘Cabblow’ Maaka is an animator, illustrator, animation lecturer and founder and creative director of Cabblow Studios, which is a Johannesburg based animation studio. Unsatisfied with the quality of Animation education in South Africa, Kabelo started using YouTube to create art and animation tutorials.
Together with her passion for animation and her skillset including digital character animation, character design, storyboarding, and scriptwriting, she is determined on making sure that her work become game changers by cultivating a unique voice that contributes meaningfully to the animation conversation in South African and internationally. Kabelo was a speaker at the Cape Town International Animation Festival in 2019.
Co-director Dr Tshepo P. Maaka has been a medical practitioner registered with the Health Professions Council since 1994, practicing mainly anaesthesiology. Until early 2018, Dr Maaka has been running an obstetrical anaesthetic practice at both the Sunninghill and Waterfall Hospitals in Gauteng. She partnered with her daughter Kabelo in forming Cabblow Studios to produce Medical Animation.
Together, they are combining their skills in medicine and animation to carve out a unique niche in the South African animation market. They hope to produce content to educate on health in order to promote compliance & healthy living, and to produce better health outcomes.
"3 Teaspoons of Sugar" also screened at Africa Rising International Film Festival in 2019 and Lagos International Festival of Animation 2020 where they both made it to the semifinals.