When Toper Taylor, President and COO of Cookie Jar, addressed the Cape Town animation industry a few months ago I couldn't gauge his actual impression of us. He seemed polite yet reserved.

Animation is an industry which has been dominated by the West. In Africa, the concept is relatively new, but this year nine animation films from Kenya will be screened at the prestigious Africa in Motion (AiM) festival that will run 23 October - 2 November 2008 in Edinburgh, UK.

Working Together to Create Our Future Animation has the ability not only to entertain and educate, reaching across cultural and racial boundaries, but also to generate employment, and attract investment.

Our 3D-animated AIDS awareness PSA, "Shower", has been invited to screen at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro in the FIAE 2008 - 3rd International Festival of Erotic Animation, with Sex, Love and Eroticism as the key themes.

The animated escape for a tight-squeeze economy South Africa's economy is facing a tightening of the belts, and with it budgets in the marketing and advertising industry. Roger Smythe, JHB MD for Masters & Savant Worldwide states that advertising agencies and marketers may have huge budget walls to climb when faced with the production of television commercials; especially when television time slot prices across most of the broadcasters continue to climb to record highs.

This dark Arabian fairytale of the Afterlife examines the existential questions at the core of being human.

The animation industry in South Africa may be a fledgling one but if the quality of work that's coming out of the Mother City is anything to go by, then its an industry that is about to take off - in a big way.

After graduating from the Royal College of Art with the prestigious Man Group Drawing Prize, South African artist/animator Jane Cheadle has been awarded positions in two sought after Artist-in-Residen

source: www.filmmaker.co.za

Depth's production department recently completed three very exciting projects.

Wicked Pixels has just finished another well-crafted animated spot for The Jupiter Drawing Room CT, for Musica's launch of the gaming console that is taking the world by storm - Nintendo's Wii.