South African animation studio wins first BAFTA

Cape Town - Revolting Rhymes won Best Animation at the BAFTA Children’s Awards on Sunday night, beating off strong competition from The Amazing World of Gumball, Shaun the Sheep and We’re Going On A Bear Hunt. 

The film was produced by Magic Light Pictures and was animated at Magic Light’s Berlin studio and Cape Town’s Triggerfish studio. 

Watch the trailer here:

“It’s an amazing honour to win at Britain’s most prestigious awards,” says Triggerfish CEO Stuart Forrest. “We’re so proud of the team. This was the second year in a row that we’ve been nominated for our work with Magic Light, so winning is further proof that Africa is producing some of the best animation in the world.”  

This is one of several award nominations for the animation: 

Revolting Rhymes is also nominated for three European Animation Awards on Friday, 8 December 2017 and Best Animation at the International Emmy Kids Awards, which will be presented in April 2018. The two-part special has already won the Cristal for Best TV Production at Annecy in France, the world’s premiere animation festival; Best Animated Short at TIFF Kids; Best Animation at the World Banff Media Festival in Canada; Best Storytelling at Shanghai International Film and TV Festival in China; and the Children’s Jury prize at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival. 

More about the cast and crew:

Directed by Jakob Schuh (The Gruffalo) and Jan Lachauer (Room on the Broom) and co-directed by Bin Han To, Revolting Rhymes is an adaptation of Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake’s classic book of surprising fairytales. It’s voiced by a stellar cast that includes Dominic West (The Affair) as The Wolf; Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones) as Red Riding Hood; and Gemma Chan (Humans) as Snow White.

Magic Light Pictures’ third collaboration with Triggerfish, The Highway Rat, is coming to BBC One this Christmas. An adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s bestseller, The Highway Rat is a swashbuckling tale of bandits and biscuits the whole family will enjoy. David Tennant (Doctor Who, Broadchurch) leads an impressive cast in the title role. 

Stick Man, Magic Light Pictures’ previous Donaldson/Scheffler production animated at Triggerfish, premiered on BBC One on Christmas Day 2015 to record ratings of 9.3 million viewers, with an overall 41 percent audience share, the fourth highest rated programme of the day. The film also won critical praise and a raft of global industry awards including the Annecy Crystal and a BAFTA nomination.