The Southern African Forum for Independent Animators is a registered non-profit company focused on building a regional community for African storytelling through animation.
Handmade animation in traditional and digital media lends itself to low-tech and low-budget crafting that any creative and innovative individual can access and attain remarkable results with.
Authentic storytelling inspired by personal life experiences, unique cultural practices, regionally-specific social and political challenges and celebrations, as well as family narratives passed down through the generations, is far more interesting to an international audience than emulating globally popular themes.
As part of South Africa building its own robust film industry, independent storytellers and animators have an opportunity to add their own unique voice and visual language to the mix.
If you love storytelling, if the prospect of scriptwriting, animating, and producing regionally unique narratives excites you, or if you are financially able to support these efforts and you would like to become part of building a local independent animation industry, then we invite you to join us at the newly launched Smallanyana Animation Festival.
The Smallanyana Animation Festival is a pop-up two-hour animation festival launching at the Mkwanazi Theatre at Kingsmead College in Rosebank, Johannesburg on Saturday 1 February 2025 at 15h00. Tickets are R80 at quicket.co.za and at the door, and the theatre can accommodate up to 150 audience members.
Amateur and professional animators are invited to submit 10 second animation sketches to forum@independentanimators.africa by Wednesday 29 January 2025. The festival’s focus is on handmade animations crafted in traditional and digital media. No entry fee applies.
Two-dimensional handmade animation puppet for the ‘Ruby & Roach’ stop-frame animation by Erentia Bedeker and Dorette Nel. Image courtesy of the Southern African Forum for Independent Animators.
Included in the program are short-form independent South African animations of three to ten minutes in length. Most of the program is for all ages, and some of the films target children. Two animations will be shown towards the end of the program where parental guidance is advised as they include some nudity and violence. Two sessions include work-in-progress presentations, as well as a question and answer session for audience members interested in how these animations were funded, produced, and crafted.
Participating independent animators have achieved considerable success and recognition in a thriving international animation festival circuit for a wide variety of reasons, and audience members are invited to unpack these reasons with the animation teams themselves. It is clear that the world loves independent animation, and that regional animations are welcomed in an arena that has a wide and rich diversity of voices and approaches.
The Southern African Forum for Independent Animators is dedicated to building community and support for independent voices, providing educational and logistic insight into the pre-production, production, post-production, and international animation festival circuit process.
Visit www.independentanimators.africa for more information.
Diek Grobler presenting the festival program to our first Smallanyana Animation Festival audience at the Mkwanazi Theatre, Kingsmead College, Johannesburg. Thank you for your support.
Presenting the TEN SECONDS ENTRIES program at the Smallanyana Animation Festival launch. The Mkwanazi Theatre at Kingsmead College kindly provided us with a microphone and couch setup for interviews and presentations with animators whose works were featured in the two-hour program.
Festival links:
Festival downloads:
- Poster (print ready)
- Program poster (print ready)
- Catalogue 1 February 2025 (web resolution)
- Animation flyers (social media)
- Social media posters (web resolution)
- Press release (text and image)
Thank you for your support:
