Zambian Animation Series Goes Global

If anyone is asked to think about animated entertainment in Africa, most will think of Marvel comics and  Walt Disney animation called The Lion King about a pride of lions created in Hollywood. However, Africa is home to a growing number of its own animators.

London-based children’s entertainment company Cake has entered into a partnership with South Africa’s Triggerfish Animation Studios to co-produce the comedy-action series Mama K’s Super 4.

Mama K’s Super 4 is set in Lusaka, Zambia, where four teenage girls are recruited by former secret agent Mama K to help save the planet.

Fighting rich and powerful opponents with limited resources means Mama K’s Super 4 will have to be smart and resourceful in a show in which taking down the bad guys and turning in your homework is all in a day’s work.

Mama K’s Super 4 was created by Created by Zambian writer Malenga Mulendema and its target audience are six to 11-year-olds. Malenga

“Mama K’s Super 4” creator Malenga Mulendema.

was one of eight winners in the Story Lab initiative, a 2015 African development program sponsored by Triggerfish, in partnership with the Walt Disney Company and South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry.

Triggerfish is one of South Africa’s leading animation studios, which is credited for two features – Adventures in Zambezia and Khumba as well as tv specials like Stick Man and Revolting Rhymes.

African animators often find themselves stuck between a paucity of international imagination and a lack of capital. The collaboration between South African government’s department of trade and industry and Disney Studios, Triggerfish who runs Story Lab, which invites scriptwriters from around the continent and supports them in beginning to tell their stories.