Greenlight!

I'm a happy chappy, need I say more?

Greenlight!

7-year itch

OK, it's only been 5 years that I've been working on Zambezia (only), but this week, exactly a year since we started full production, the IDC committee meets to decide whether to fund our second feature, Khumba. It will be an unprecedented deal, and obviously a huge amount rides on it, so I wait with bated breath... because I'm feeling the itch.

We had to do a self-portrait awhile back at work and as you might tell, my experience working on Zambezia has mostly been one of re-writing and re-writing. But I have also had an invaluable opportunity to prepare for directing my own feature film. If all goes well, next year this time, it will be in full swing.

7-year itch

Anima Mundi - 6/6

My last day in Rio - the festival was over and the prospect of returning to work put dampen on things. Jess and I did a quick shop for the essential tourist souvenirs and then we said goodbye and she returned to Buenos Aires. And then there were 4 - the group was now just Cordell, Daniel, Maureen and I. We took the tram uphill with Adelya up to Santa Teresa and ended up meeting up with some of the remaining guests, Stephen and his family. Stephen generously treated us all to a tasty lunch (including Piranha soup!)

My camera was stolen out my bag at Joburg airport, so I although I was left with none of my own pics, I will forever be left with happy memories of an incredible city, amazing people - the guests as well as the production crew - and hopefully many opportunities to come.

My heartfelt thanks go out to all the people who included their work in the SA animation showcase, and to the organisers and sponsors of Anima Mundi who made my trip possible. And, lastly, a special thanks to Lea for having the idea to represent all of the incredible talent from SA at such a magical event!

Anima Mundi - 6/6

Anima Mundi - 5/6

Besides a quick tour around the Hippie Market (their name for it, not mine), and a quick bite, sunday was mostly spent on Ipanema beach. With the hundreds of people packed onto the beach with their umbrellas and chairs it was pretty much the image I had of Rio before going there. 

I lost my specs somewhere on the beach and incredibly they were found and handed in.

A still from the upcoming animated feature Rio

By the evening, it really felt like things were winding down. Some of the guests had already left, missing out on the awards ceremony. Although, since it was in Portuguese, I only found out the winners when I got back anyway. At least we got to see some of them and I was especially glad to see The Lost Thing since I fell in love with the style when I bought the book in Oz a few years ago. 

Then, in addition to some of the other festival winners, was a cool PSA about... peeing in the shower (yes, encouraging it) and the Brazilian winner (maybe something was lost in translation). One of the more interesting and beautiful pieces was Madagascar, a journey diary - a beautiful watercolour 3d scrapbook-type diary.

Apparently there are a lot of Labenese people in Rio so we had an "Arab" dinner at a beautiful spot under JC with the lights of the city reflected in the water next to us. A few Caipirinhas later, I didn't quite get to say my proper  goodbyes as our group reduced even further.

Anima Mundi - 5/6

Anima Mundi - 4/6

Work's been crazy so it's taking me awhile to finish this off... Anyways here is day 4:

Still drunk (see day 3/6), I stumbled down early to meet the others. We were meant to go up the big JC, but (luckily) it was cloudy so I could go back to bed. Lack of sleep and jetlag was catching up, big time. Even after a little more shut-eye, it took  crossing the double 3-lane road to copacabana beach back and forth a few times, before we finally re-fueled with a refreshing coconut drink. Mmmm.  

Another massive lunch (an all-you-can-eat buffet) was the last thing any of us were really in the mood for, but none of us were in any state to initiate anything else and it was fun nevertheless. 

Stephen Hillenburg gave another talk that night which was great because he made sure to entertain us with new insights and different clips of Spongebob (known as "Bobbyspongy" in Brazil).  After some great audience questions, everyone crowded around for signatures and photos with him. 

After the fun of the night before, the official festival party was a bit of an anti-climax, but we still had fun drinking and dancing and ...yes, I'm noticing a trend here too.

Anima Mundi - 4/6