Triggerfish Animation Studios


Triggerfish Animation Studios, or simply Triggerfish, is a computer animation film studio based in Cape Town, South Africa. The studio is best known for its animated feature films Adventures in Zambezia, Khumba, and the work they have done on television specials created for UK producers Magic Light Pictures. In 2016, Stick Man was awarded the Cristal for best TV production at the Annecy International Animation Festival. In 2017, Revolting Rhymes again won the Cristal for best TV production at the Annecy Festival, and was nominated for the Best Short Film Oscar at the 2018 Academy Awards. In 2019, Netflix announced that Triggerfish would produce its first African animated TV series. In 2020, Zog won the International Emmy for Best Kids Animation.

History

Triggerfish was established in 1996 by Jacquie Trowell and Emma Kaye in Cape Town, South Africa. As a stop-frame animation studio, it produced multiple commercials for South African ad agencies. From 1998 through 2008, Triggerfish produced animation for Sesame Workshop for the South African version of Sesame Street, Takalani Sesame, as well as the US domestic and international versions of the pre-school kids' program.
Stuart Forrest joined as a junior animator in 2002 to work on Takalani Sesame for seasons two and three. In 2004, Forrest and James Middleton became partners in Triggerfish and in 2005 became the sole partners when the original founders left the company. In 2007 Anthony Silverston joined as creative director, and Mike Buckland joined as head of production. At the same time, the company moved away from stop-frame animation and relaunched as a computer animation studio.
In 2008, Triggerfish created a 30-minute short entitled The Rise and Fall of Tony the Frog. The short was produced by Ambient Animation in Cape Town for Isaac Entertainment.

Feature Films

From 2006, the team began to shift focus to motion pictures by writing their first script Adventures in Zambezia, with US-based rights company Wonderful Works. The script went into production in 2009 and was released in 2012. In 2010, the studio started production on Khumba which started its worldwide release in Q3 2013. Triggerfish are now working in their third feature provisionally called Seal Team.

Television animated series

On April 16, 2019, it was announced that Netflix had given a series order for the animated superhero series Mama K's Team 4. The series is expected to be produced by the studio in collaboration with CAKE. Malenga Mulendema will be credited as an executive producer and writer of the series.

Story Lab

In mid-2015, Triggerfish announced the Triggerfish Story Lab, a program that aimed to develop African writers and directors. The initiative had the support of the Walt Disney Company. Mama K's Team 4, the first Netflix Original animation series from Africa, was one of the projects unearthed by the Triggerfish Story Lab.

Triggerfish Academy

In June 2019 Triggerfish launched a free online learning platform aimed at encouraging young creatives to create their first animated film.

Filmography

;Feature films
#TitleRelease dateBudgetGrossRotten TomatoesMetacritic
1Adventures in Zambezia$20,000,000$34,428,34525%N/A
2Khumba$20,000,000$27,000,00044%40
3Seal TeamTBA

;Television specials
#TitleRelease date
1Stick Man
2Revolting Rhymes
3The Highway Rat
4Zog
5The Snail and the Whale

;Television series
#TitleRelease date
1Mama K's Team 4

Feature Film Awards & Nominations

''Adventures in Zambezia''

Prior to its release, Khumba screened in competition at Annecy International Animation Festival 2013 and was in the Official Selection of Durban International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival 2013.

''Belly Flop''