Kampala, April 13 (BUS): Ugandan film producer Raymond Malinga, whose work will be featured in upcoming Disney anthology of animated films from across Africa, hopes the project will bring African animation to the world.
“Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire,” is a ten-part collection of animated shorts from producers from six African countries and is set to debut on streaming platform Disney Plus later this year.
Malinga, 32, is one of 14 filmmakers from South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Kenya who are contributing to an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories in Africa’s future. Academy Award-winning film director Peter Ramsey serves as executive producer on the project.
“The narrative in Africa was, you’re turning on the news now, I bet it’s (about) something bad that just happened,” Malinga told Reuters in his studio in Kampala.
Malinga says the positives are lost in the narrative, and this must change.
“For me (the anthology) is an opportunity to contribute to that conversation,” he said.
Malinga, 32, who holds a degree in animation and visual effects from a university in Malaysia, started his company, Creatures Animation Studios, in 2015.
Their big break came in 2017 when the animated short “A Kalabanda Ate My Homework” was shown at the Cannes Film Festival and won six awards, including Best Animated Film, at the African International Film Festival in Nigeria the following year, according to reports. Reuters.
His team, which over the past few years has grown to 10 people, operates from a small, dark studio sandwiched between the booths of other startups in a makeshift innovation village built from other-purpose shipping containers.
African content is gaining worldwide popularity thanks to the increasing commissions for series and short films through streaming services such as Netflix and Multichoice’s Showmax.
However, in Africa, foreign content remains dominant, and Malinga said the Disney Anthology was an opportunity to combat stereotypes and bring more content to African consumers featuring people like them.
He said that as Studio Malinga’s brand and talent pool grow, they are venturing into gaming and exploring opportunities in virtual and augmented reality.
He said his dream is to bring African films and animations to the world stage to replicate the success of other African industries.
“Afro music is starting to spread all over the world…we have some of our comedians hanging around and I’m like, why isn’t there animation too, why not a movie?” Malinga said.