Best South African animation movies

My Mum's Bonkers (2017)

About the loss of a mother, with her unexpected exuberance, but who also cries Puccini melodies. A short poetic collage, as fleeting as the blink of an eye, where sounds and images are superimposed to evoke the at once peaceful and tormented memory of a mother.

History of the Main Complaint (1996)

History of the Main Complaint is the sixth film [of a] series and is based on twenty-one drawings. It was made shortly after the establishment in South Africa of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It was set up to conduct a series of public hearings into abuses of human rights perpetrated during the apartheid era. The hearings, in which individuals told their stories of personal suffering, were held in order to make reparation for abuse and in the hope of creating reconciliation between peoples. The underlying theme of this film is a (self) recognition of white responsibility. This is played out through a 'medical' investigation into the body of Soho Eckstein, the white property-developing magnate and greedy-capitalist protagonist of most of the preceding films, which provides the starting point for a revelation of conscience. (tate.org.uk)

Seal Team (2021)

After his best friend is killed in a shark attack, Quinn, a lovable yet tenacious seal assembles a SEAL TEAM to fight back against a gang of sharks overtaking the neighborhood. But this merry band of international seals are not at all trained for such a mission. They seek the help of a much more skillful combatant, Claggart, but even his tricks and flips can’t whip these guys into shape. However, with a little bit of ingenuity, intelligence and a lot of heart, our SEAL TEAM may actually be able to bring peace back to their undersea community.

Felix in Exile (1994)

Felix in Exile introduces a new character to the 'Drawings for Projection' series: Nandi, an African woman, who appears at the beginning of the film making drawings of the landscape. She observes the land with surveyor's instruments, watching African bodies, with bleeding wounds, which melt into the landscape. She is recording the evidence of violence and massacre that is part of South Africa's recent history. Felix Teitelbaum, who features in Kentridge's first and fourth films as the humane and loving alter-ego to the ruthless capitalist white South African psyche, appears here semi-naked and alone in a foreign hotel room, brooding over Nandi's drawings of the damaged African landscape, which cover his suitcase and walls. Kentridge has commented: 'Felix in Exile was made at the time just before the first general election in South Africa, and questioned the way in which the people who had died on the journey to this new dispensation would be remembered'.

The Next Few Months (2019)

The effects of cancer and its subsequent treatments on an individual, and his family.

3 Teaspoons of Sugar (2019)

In a household where meal times are a delightful feast full of bonding, fellowship and good eating, 3 members of this tight-knit family are diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus.

Dodgy Links (2020)

Dodgy Links a about a gullible and not so internet savvy office employee who falls for the very common spam pop-up of "you are the lucky 999 999th visitor on this website!". The consequence of this, however, is quite different for this unlucky circular thing.

Tengers (2007)

Whilst working on "the great South African novel," an unemployed writer gets caught up in the harsh realities of life in the city of Johannesburg.

Bru & Boegie: The Movie (2019)

Bru and Boegie need to think big to get people to watch their shorts online, so they make South Africa's first full-length 2D animated movie.

Shaka Inkosi Yamakhosi (2021)

A young meek boy, Manzini is bullied by three boys on his way back from school in an incident that almost costs him his life. Manzini confesses to his Gogo his desire to quit school. His Gogo narrates a profound tale of resilience evoking the coming-of-age story of a great warrior and King, Shaka Zulu to inspire her grandson through the strength of his lineage.

The Tale of How (2006)

This lavishly embellished, comically operetta CGI fantasy story takes place in the Indian Ocean, where a flock of “piranha birds” has settled on the back of an octopus. When an octopus is starved, it feeds on birds on its back, but because it is already threatened with extinction, they decide to send a bottle across the sea with a call for help.

Sobriety, Obesity & Growing Old (1991)

Sobriety, Obesity and Growing Old picks up the narrative and themes begun in Kentridge's first film, Johannesburg the Second Greatest City after Paris, and follows the development of the relationships between his cast of invented characters, Soho Eckstein, his wife and her lover, Felix Teitelbaum. These relationships reflect, metaphorically, the changing political situation in South Africa at the time the film was made. Demonstrations and marches in opposition to the apartheid régime together with the governmental relaxation of most of the State of Emergency regulations and restrictions heralded the beginning of a change in the country's power structure (and white attitudes towards black African rights). Soho, a symbol of South African white power, develops the capacity for awareness, longing and love and the potential for guilt and repentance.

Mine (1991)

A journey into the mines provides a visual representation of a journey into the conscience of Kentridge's invented character, Soho Eckstein, the white South African property owner who exploits the resources of land and black human labour which are under his domain. Throughout the film the imagery shifts between the geological landscape underground inhabited by innumerable black miners and Soho's world of white luxury above ground. When Soho, breakfasting in bed, pushes down the plunger of his cafetière, its movement is transformed into a rapid descent through the tray, through the bed and into the mine-shaft. Here the miners' world of overwhelming misery is depicted in claustrophobic tunnels where they are trapped digging, drilling and sleeping, embedded in rock. Above ground, Soho sits at his desk in his customary pin-stripe suit and punches adding machines and cash registers, creating a flow of gold bars, exhausted miners, blasted landscapes and blocks of uniform housing.

Johannesburg, 2nd Greatest City After Paris (1989)

William Kentridge’s ironic tribute to his hometown, animated on the basis of 25 drawings, is the first film of his “Drawing for Protection” cycle, in which he unfolds the triangle between Johannesburg building tycoon Soho Eckstein, his wife, and the dreamer Felix Teitelbaum. In this film he introduces the central characters of his meta-narrative which, located in a South Africa of the last days of a crumbling Apartheid, becomes an allegorical reflection on socio-political power relations.

Hadidance (2019)

One night, a female bird heads into a bar determined to find love. Outwardly she seems to be incredibly outgoing and popular, everyone seems to want to get her attention, but underneath there is a dark layer of insecurity. A muscled seagull and a majestic peacock both catch her eye and she thinks that one of them might be the one, however upon interacting with them, she realises that there is more than good looks and charm. This eventually drives her to confront her own insecurities.

Jungle Beast - The movie (2020)