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Anthony Silverston

Anthony is partner and Creative Director at Triggerfish, where he oversees a slate of projects in development and production. 2023 saw the release of three projects which Anthony acted as Executive Producer, including Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, an anthology of 10 short films for Disney+, Supa Team 4 for Netflix, and Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes for Disney, eOne and Frogbox. In 2015, he oversaw the Triggerfish Story Lab, an initiative where 4 feature films and 4 TV series were developed after a continent-wide search that drew almost 1400 entries. He also directed and co-wrote the feature film Khumba, which premiered in competition at Annecy International Animation Festival in 2013. The script was co-written with Raffaella Delle Donne. He also produced and wrote on Triggerfish’s other two films Adventures and Zambezia and Seal Team (released globally in December 2021 on Netflix) and he was producer of the Blender short film, Troll Girl, and Belly Flop which screened at over 140 festivals and won 14 awards. His graphic novel, Pearl of the Sea, co-written with Raffaella Delle Donne and Willem Samuel was recently released to critical acclaim.

Chief Nyamweya

Chief is an author, visual artist and co-founder of Freehand Studios, an African digital arts and social impact studio based in Nairobi, Kenya. His work fuses storytelling, Illustration and animation to amplify the work of social movements and create visions of an alternative African future.
Chief was originally trained as a lawyer and chartered accountant before taking the unlikely decision to pursue a career as an artist. In 2016, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Singularity University in San Francisco and in 2019, he was listed among the Business Daily Africa’s top 40 under 40 Men.
The 36 year old father of one has since published a number of graphic novels including: Art of Unlearning (2019), Trust (2022) and The Blind Spot (2023), as well as directed several animations such as Big Brother is Coming to the Farm, Trust Motion Comic, Food Sovereignty, Now!, and the children’s animated series Uli & Tata’s African Nursery Rhymes.

Chrissy Metge

Chrissy has been in the Animation film and TV industry for over 20 years and has a big passion for storytelling in every medium. As well as a Producer she is also a children’s book author of 16 books.

Before joining the Jellyfish Animation Team, Chrissy was the Executive Producer at DNEG Animation having worked on Ron’s Gone Wrong for Disney, Producing Entergalactic for ‘Netflix’ and Executive Producing ‘That Christmas’.

Chrissy is very experienced in managing large teams spanning across India, Canada and London and has worked around the world in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, she is passionate about building relationships between artists, studios and clients and enjoys mentoring and coaching and is active in the Women’s in Animation community.

One of Chrissy favourite things is following script to screen and the whole process in-between.

Clare Louis

After living abroad for 18 years, Clare returned to South Africa in 2014 to complete a MA in Digital Arts [3D-Animation] at Wits University. She progressed through the ranks over the next three years from post-production supervisor to Assistant Producer at Coal Stove Pictures in Johannesburg. There she oversaw animation and live-action projects developed within the company. Clare is now the owner of Katanimate Animation Studio which is currently the largest 3D animation studio in Kwazulu-Natal. Based in her home town of Durban, Katanimate completed a 3D animated short film, “Midnight Escapade” (2021) and is presently in early production on their pre-school show, “Knittyville” (30 x 7mins). She is now able to leverage the international networks she built while abroad to access international markets for her animation projects.
Clare is passionate about growing the animation industry in KZN and has inducted interns and trainees locally as well as held lecturing positions at institutions to that end. She has ample experience ranging from creation & development of projects, script-writing, presenting concepts to broadcasters, funding and competently manages teams to bring in projects on budget and on time. Clare is an active member of AnimationSA and the Writer’s Guild of South Africa.

Daniel Clarke

Daniel is a Cape Town based artist working in animation, film and Illustration. He started his

career in animation in 2008 at Triggerfish Animation Studios; a collaboration that has lasted up until
today and hasn seen him act as Production Designer and Art director on projects such as the feature film
Khumba, BBC’s Stick Man and Snail and the Whale. As an illustrator and designer he has worked with,
amongst others, clients such as Netflix, Animal Logic, The Line, National
Geographic Kids, Nike, Adidas, Penguin Random House – amongst others. In 2018 he completed Kariba,
a graphic novel which at the time was the most successful of its kind in Africa on Kickstarter. Daniel has
worked as an illustrator and art director for international feature films such as Chronicle (2012); The
Giver (2014); and Chappie (2015). Daniel recently directed Aau’s Song, a Star Wars: Visions film from
Lucasfilm.

Dianne Makings

Dianne Makings is an animation producer and the Director of the Cape Town International Animation Festival.
Dianne has been privileged to work on several short films for the BBC, Disney Plus and a wide range of award-winning studios.
Her latest project featured in the Star Wars Visions 2 anthology. Look out for Aau’s Song!

Ed Bell

Ed is a multiple award winning animation artist, director and writer, who’s work spotlights the joys and struggles of People of color  — whether through the mediums of short-films, animated series,  features or in VR. Ed is currently leading his team on PBS Digital’s intense historical animated series: History Of White People In America. In 2021 he collaborated with the Jim Henson Creature Shop and French animation Maestro Silvain Chomet .

Ed graduated from Cal Arts a month after getting hired  by his first Hollywood studio,  and he never looked back. Ed was recruited as a layout artist on two groundbreaking television programs in the 80’s - the notorious Ralph Bakshi’s Mighty Mouse the New Adventures and Nickelodeon’s “Ren&Stimpy Show”. He animated in the classical way for Brad Bird, Disney/Touchstone, Warner Brothers Animation and Paramount on groundbreaking films and programs like Be-Be-s Kids and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, before joining Colossal Animation and Wild Brain as a head animation creative. 

Ed’s inviting hip-hop/ anime aesthetic can be seen in inspired commercial campaigns for clients such as Coca-Cola, Sony, Nike, Target and Wrigley’s Winterfresh Gum with the acclaimed Urban Hip Hopper spot. He’s won the BDA, Asifa Award, and Emmy nominations for that work. In 2001 Ed helmed the highly rated Narrative Documentary “Unchained Memories” for HBO.He’s won nominations for Emmy award, and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program.

Esther Pearl

Esther Pearl is the President of Nell Productions and Founder of Reel Stories. She has spent over 20+ years working in Production Management in the entertainment industry. The majority of Esther’s film career was spent at Pixar Animation Studios where her feature film credits include Academy Award winning films The Incredibles, Wall-e, and Monsters, Inc. Outside her work at Pixar her credits include films such as Titanic, Starship Troopers, Armageddon, and What Dreams May Come. Nell Productions contributed to Boy Kills World which will be premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival this September.

During her time working in Feature Film Production she became deeply committed to closing the gender gap in the film and media industry. In 2012 she founded Reel Stories. Reel Stories is the first filmmaking and film training program for young women and female identified people led by industry professionals. Since Reel Stories formation in 2012 Esther has helped produce over 100 short films created by women and female identified people. Over 1000 people have attended Reel Stories film training programs. In 2020, with Esther’s guidance the Reel Stories programs became virtual and within one week they began training people across the country and internationally.

Esther has been honored for her contributions to Bay Area Women in Film, Television, and Media by the San Francisco Women’s Film Institute. She was a semi-finalist for the Echoing Green Fellowship awarded to a social entrepreneur addressing urgent issues in society today. In addition, she has received the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Advanced Imaging Society.

Gennie Rim

Gennie Rim is an animation producer whose career spans over 20 years. She worked in various roles at Pixar on Cars, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, as well as Bolt, & Tangled at Walt Disney Feature Animation, along with VR and short film projects at Google and Netflix.

She produced several award-winning short films including Glen Keane and Kobe Bryant’s Oscar-winning short Dear Basketball, and Alberto Mielgo's Emmy-winning The Witness.

She most recently produced the Emmy-winning preschool series Trash Truck and the Academy Award-nominated feature Over the Moon for Netflix, directed by Glen Keane.

Greig Cameron

By day, Greig Cameron is a mild-mannered writer and director: He was head writer on
Moosebox for Nickelodeon, wrote and directed four seasons of Supa Strikas, on Disney
XD and Cartoon Network, and has written for Munki and Trunk and Urbo: The
Adventures of Pax Afrika. His debut feature film, Seal Team, which he wrote and
directed, is on Netflix worldwide and reached the global top 10 in its opening week. He is
currently showrunning a Showmax original animated series.
By night, he is a dreaded devourer of many exotic cheeses. Some say too many, but
that's just because he ate all of theirs.

Irmak Atabek Ndungu 

Irmak Atabek Ndungu is a multi-disciplinary media and entertainment professional, with 15+ yearsʼ experience in the animation and children’s media industry. She specializes in global childrenʼs IPs & project development, animation production and strategy. In 2017, she co-founded MakoKids, a kids' content and animation company that designs and produces tailor-made content for worldwide clients.   

Having previously consulted on projects in the US and UAE, Irmak is currently producing Mako's new TV series "Kozalak Preschool," an animation preschool series funded by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education in Turkey. Since 2018, Irmak has been based in Kenya, where she oversees two of Mako's preschool projects with different partners and local creative teams. These projects include an animation TV series called "Papo Hapo" and a preschool live-action TV show titled "Dogodogo," which recently received endorsement from UNESCO. Her commitment to kids' content stems from her belief that today's kids will be tomorrow's changemakers.

Isabelle Rorke

Isabelle is a multi-award winning Executive Producer and businesswoman. She is the founder of Enlightened Poppy Network (Pty) Ltd (EPN), a Social Impact Innovation consultancy in the ICT sector with a specialist focus on Human Capital Innovation.

In 2000 Isabelle co-founded Anamazing Workshop, a fast growing, multi award winning animation studio, including winning most innovative company in Africa at the Africa growth institute awards, a SAFTA award for best animation and 29 awards globally for the first 3D animation African Folk Tale Series, 'The Magic Cellar Season 1.

The creator of AnimationSA's Broadcast & Market Readiness Incubator; created to support the growth and development of BEE SMMEs in the development of their first African TV series.

Isabelle studied journalism through Rhodes University and the East Cape News Agency and Producing through the Audio Visual Entrepreneurs Association. Selected as one of 12 SA women in ICT to study entrepreneurship through university of Maryland Baltimore.

John Kahrs

John has been at the leading edge of the animation industry since 1990, where he worked as one of Blue Sky Studios’ very first employees.

From 1996 to 2006 was an animator at Pixar during their ‘golden age’, with credits on A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille. In 2006, John became instrumental in the revitalization of Disney’s Feature Animation division where he supervised the animation on Tangled.

He went on to win the Academy Award for his short film Paperman, a revolutionary hybrid of 2D and 3D. John went onto direct award winning short films for Google and Lyft. He then joined Netflix to co-directed the Oscar-nominated animated feature, Over the Moon.

Kaya Kuhn

With 10+ years of experience in production, Kaya Kuhn is a versatile producer, specializing in post-production and animation. She started her career in the South African film industry in live action post-production where she notably post-produced six seasons of reality television series ‘The Voice’. In 2017, she took the leap into producing animation at renowned studio ‘Triggerfish’. Since then, she line produced critically acclaimed short films ‘Zog’ (BBC1) and ‘The Snail and The Whale’ (BBC1), co-produced animated feature film ‘Seal Team’ (Netflix), was involved with pre-production for animated series ‘Mama K’s Team 4’ (Netflix) and ‘Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes’ (Disney+), and most recently was the senior producer on the groundbreaking anthology ‘Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire’ (Disney+) which is set to release in 2023. She was the consultant producer for animated short ‘Aau’s Song’ which forms part of anthology ‘Star Wars: Visions Volume 2’ (LucasFilms) and has recently been involved in producing live action feature films for local broadcaster, Kyknet. She is also involved with Triggerfish Academy and Foundation in running training and mentorship programs for aspiring African producers, and has been involved in various festival workshops and panels speaking on the role of production and the need for diversification in the industry. Currently, she runs a production services company ‘Those Production Girls’ which offers high end production support through innovation and inclusion.

Kaydee de Villiers

Kaydee specializes in animation development, project management, and production and has produced content across multiple platforms, overseeing the creation of content from idea to production, greenlight and distribution. As well as managing film curation and digital events in the local animation industry, through the largest animation networking event in Africa, Cape Town International Animation Festival. Kaydee has also consulted broadly with international animation studios, and most recently worked on two episodes of Disney +’s Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire. As part of her continued work in the animation industry Kaydee has kicked off Connect networking events for Women In Animation in South Africa.

Nadia Darries

Nadia Darries is an adept animator and co-founder of Goon Valley Animation, with an avocation for songwriting.

Born in South Africa, to a community rich with culture and identity politics, her roots inspire her fervour for personal reflection as a gateway to studying what it means to be human. This passion feeds into her work as a creative and drives her long-term mission of encouraging people to explore their personal stories.

​Nadia is a SAFTA-winning director, who has recently co-written and co-directed the Star Wars VISIONS 2 episode, “Aau’s Song”. She has worked on animated film and motion design as an animator, project manager, creative director and director since 2015. Her experience includes animating at Triggerfish Animation Studios on the award-winning BBC films Stick Man, Revolting Rhymes and Highway Rat.

Nanda Soobben 

Nanda was an Anti Apartheid Cartoonist.
He was the only published Black Cartoonist during Apartheid.
His socio-political columns, cartoons and illustrations have been published in THE POST, The Independent on Saturday, The Daily News and the Sunday Tribune.
His cartoons are also syndicated to major international newspapers.

He has his works in major collections around the world including the The Kennedy Library in Boston, The Michigan State University, The Mandela Collection, The Killie Campbell Museum and The Smithsonian in Washington.

He is also the Founder and Creative Director of the Centre For Fine Art Animation and Design (CFAD)

Soobben is the series director of The Mandela Folktales Animation which won four awards for the Best Animated Movie in the US, Europe and India.
He also won best Creative Director at the Bangla Film Festival for one of the Mandela Folktales movie, Fesito Goes To Market.

He recently painted a giant Peace Mural in Chatsworth after the July 21 Insurrection

Nathan Stanton

After earning his BFA in ‘Character Animation’ from the California Institute of the Arts in 1992, he soon got a job as a 2D assistant animator on “The Nightmare Before Christmas” at Skellington Productions. He went on to work at Colossal Pictures on a number of projects, also in 2D animation. Stanton then returned to Skellington Productions to work on “James and the Giant Peach.” He then began his career in story at Pixar in June 1996 as a story artist for Pixar’s second feature film, “A Bug’s Life,” and has worked on many of the studio’s successes since then. Stanton has contributed his storyboarding talents to “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters, Inc.,” and the Academy Award® winning feature films “Finding Nemo,” “Ratatouille”, “WALL•E”, “Brave”, and “Coco”. He also served as Head of Story for “Cars 2” and “The Blue Umbrella” short. Most recently, Stanton has moved on from Pixar and become an independent contractor - working on several different Animated and Live-Action projects, and story consulting on the Netflix documentary ‘Crip Camp’. He ran a 12 week Story Lab program for local talent in Africa for Triggerfish Animation & Netflix in Cape Town, South Africa. Once the program was done Six people were then chosen to create a Story Team to work on the Animated Feature ‘Tunga’. He is currently an Assistant Director on the Animated Feature ‘David’ for Sunrise Animation Studios.

Nick Cloete

Nick is one of the founders and Managing Director at South Africa's 2.D animation studio, Mind’s
Eye Creative, which has produced animated series and shorts for some of the most established
brands in the film & television industry, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Nickelodeon, Youtube
Premium, Tru TV and Cartoon Network.
Nick volunteers as Chair and head of policy at Animation South Africa (ASA) and has served as
Co-Chair for the South African Screen Federation (SASFED).

Noodle and Bun

Noodle and bun is an animated cat and dog created by Lloyd and Gottfried of Polycat Animation. It rose to fame on TikTok as a virtual influencer then became an animated show and has since been on broadcast television worldwide and most notible appearances on Brittains got Talent and Americas got Talent.

Sarah Mallia

Freehand Studios is a Nairobi-based digital arts and social impact studio that creates compelling, inclusive and culturally relevant content in the form of graphic novels and animation. Some of their noteworthy productions include TRUST, a transmedia project, and their flagship children’s animated series Uli & Tata’s African Nursery Rhymes.

Before her current role, Sarah held positions as the impact producer for the award-winning Kenyan feature-length documentary The Letter, and an Arts & Culture Programme Manager at PAWA254, an influential arts and activism hub based in Nairobi.

She holds a Masters degree in Migration, Mobility and Development for the University of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Sarah is dedicated to producing content that enhances impact and the work of social movements. Beyond her professional pursuits, she has a passion for analogue film photography and darkroom techniques, along with her dedicated involvement in beekeeping.

Sarah Swanepoel

Sarah is currently at Bewilder and is the Designer at The Cape Town International Animation Festival. She has worked for other studios such as Made by Radio and We Are Batch. She also worked as the art director and an animator on her student film ‘ Mr & Mrs Mantis’ where they were awarded a gold loerie and a gold at the New York Festivals.

Sarah is this year's theme artist! She's directing and animating in it with the help of the stunning 2D artist, Kristin Prior. The trailer is titled ‘ a day in Cape Town ‘ Showing off the beauty and sadness of this lovely city.

Shivana Naidoo

A writer and filmmaker from Durban, KwaZulu Natal. Shivana studied at AFDA and obtained her undergraduate and honours degrees with distinction. She majored in Screenwriting and Directing. The screenplays she has written have been produced into several short films. Most notable being Svaha (2016) and The Nature of Lost things (2017). Svaha earned a nomination for Best Student Film at the Simon Mabhunu Sabela awards in 2016. The Nature of Lost things screened at the CMS International Children's Film Festival in April this 2019. She was nominated for two awards at the Writers Guild of South Africa's prestigious Muse Awards (2019) in the Best short film SPEC Script and Best Emerging Writer categories- and won both. She's also been selected as a finalist for the PitchSA competition. Most recently, she was shortlisted for a Sundance development grant in 2021 for The Moon Can't Run. Currently, developing a feature and the head writer for Umoya: Realm of Spirits.

Somto Ajuluchukwu

Born February 24th, 1991 is an award winning yet emerging Animation Film Director / Producer & Entertainment Executive with a background in Economics from Crawford University.

He began his professional career as a film maker in 2014 after founding Vortex Studios (Studio of the Year Lagos Comic Con 2016, 2017) an animation and comic book company where he Directed and produced his first short animated film in 2016 called Town Crier, and has since then produced Orange City (2019) which traveled across 26 countries in 4 continents and most recently GLYCH (2022) which served as opening film at the RENDACON ANIMATION FILM FESTIVAL (2022) Lagos, Nigeria.

In 2017 comic-book character published by Vortex Comics, Strike Guard was listed 15 most influential black super heroes in the world by CBR (Comic Book Resources) and later produced as a 6 minute animated short film featured on VICE & Design Indaba in 2017.

In late 2017 he launched C3 Africa (Creative Content Conference) Nigerias first content market serving as meeting point for international companies discovering and buying Nigerian content, this expanded to the Accra for its second edition in August 2018, and has become a blue print of B2B events connecting the local entertainment industry to international stake holders. In October 2018, African International Film Festival Appointed him Coordinator Animation programmes where he served for 1 year.

In 2021 Somto won his first animation film award at the NAICCON Film Festival. Nairobi, Kenya (Best Animation, 2021) and his 2nd award at the Afrocomic Con Film Festival. Los Angeles, USA (Best Animation, 2022).

Tafadzwa Hove

Tafadzwa Hove is a versatile filmmaker renowned for directing and writing Mukudzei” a short animated film part of "Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire” an African Animation Anthology for Disney+.

With a deep passion for animation and a commitment to challenging stereotypes surrounding Africa, his work revolves around narratives that explore the experiences of outsiders and celebrate the triumph of hope, through genres like sci-fi and humor, whilst weaving stories that defy expectations and shed new light on the continent.

Tshepo Moche

Tshepo is a writer, director, mother, activist and all-round good human being. After lecturing and writing for live-action television, she stepped into animation as a writer on Netflix's Supa Team 4 series. She is currently working as an Executive Creative Consultant and writer on Kiya and the Kimoja Heroes, produced by eOne/DisneyJnr. She’s also taken a seat in the director’s chair with her short film First Totem Problems, as part of the Disney+/Triggerfish Kizazi Moto anthology series. A recurring jury member for the MIPCOM Diversity and Inclusion awards, she continues to work in both animation and live-action with a focus on youth development and education, the African narrative and social/gender-based subject matter. Mothering is one of her greatest party tricks and she’s also known to accept pizza and wine as payment for services rendered.

Zamabuya Msibi

Miss Zamabuya Msibi is a 37-year-old woman hailing from Durban, KZN. Her passion for training and developing people started when she resided in the United Kingdom. This is where she was given an opportunity to work in training and development in 2006. She started working at the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission in June 2014 as a Receptionist Temp and worked her way up to the Acting Industry Skills Development Manager. She has worked at the KZN Film Commission for the past 9 years. Working at the KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission not only reignited her love of training but her love for the Film and Television Industry. Her highest qualification to date is her Master of Business Administration which she obtained in 2022, with a postgraduate diploma in Project Management and a BA Social Sciences degree in Criminology.