Leading South African studio, Triggerfish announced the entries for pan-African Story Artist Lab which is sponsored by Netflix to find talent and upskill the next generation of African animators. 

“Story artists translate screenplays into animatics, the loose first version of the movie that then shapes every step of animation that follows,” says Tendayi Nyeke, Triggerfish’s Zimbabwean-born development executive. “So having skilled story artists from the continent in control of how their stories are told is a gamechanger, not only in grooming the next African directors but also in giving pre-production artists the opportunity to establish their own voice as they bring African stories to life.”

The Story Artist Lab builds on the success of Triggerfish’s Mama L’s Team 4 all-female writers lab which saw nine African women placed in the writing room for the first animated Netflix series.

The purpose of the Story Artist Lab is to find talent and upskill the next generation of Story Artists in the African animation industry. The lab positions will be awarded to young African citizens who show outstanding potential in the creative arts and visual storytelling.