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<\/p>\nRevolting Rhymes\u00a0is one of five\u00a0animated short films\u00a0nominated\u00a0for an Oscar.<\/p>\n
Directed by Jakob Schuh\u00a0(Oscar-nominated for\u00a0The Gruffalo)\u00a0and\u00a0Jan Lachauer\u00a0(Oscar-nominated for\u00a0Room on the Broom)\u00a0and co-directed by Bin\u00a0Han To,\u00a0produced by Martin Pope and Michael Rose,\u00a0Revolting Rhymes\u00a0is an adaptation of Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake\u2019s classic book of surprising fairy tales.<\/p>\n
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Produced by Magic Light Pictures,\u00a0Revolting Rhymes\u00a0was animated at Magic Light\u2019s Berlin studio and Cape Town\u2019s Triggerfish.\u00a0It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re beside ourselves right now, and just incredibly happy,” say\u00a0Schuh and Lachauer. “Happy for the film and happy for all our fantastic collaborators here in Berlin, our producers at Magic Light, as well as our wonderful team in South Africa. It\u2019s a pretty unreal feeling to find your labour of love has been recognised in this way. We\u2019re deeply grateful to the Academy for this nomination. This was a hard film to make. What always steered us forward was the level of love our team had for this story \u2013 and the blessings we received from Luke Kelly, Roald Dahl\u2019s grandson, and from the great Quentin Blake. So, for everyone’s work to receive such love in return today, it’s the most beautiful reward.”<\/p>\n
Revolting Rhymes\u00a0has already won nine major international awards: the Cristal\u00a0at Annecy in France, the world\u2019s premiere animation festival; Best Animation at the BAFTA Children\u2019s Awards;\u00a0two awards\u00a0at the European Animation Awards; 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; the Children\u2019s Jury prize at the Chicago International Children\u2019s Film Festival and the Audience Award at Filmfest Munchen.<\/p>\n
Revolting Rhymes\u00a0is also nominated for a prestigious Annie Award on 3 February 2018 in Los Angeles; a British Animation Award on 15 March in London; and an International Emmy Kids Award, which will be presented in April 2018.<\/p>\n
“Congrats to Jakob, Jan, Bini and the amazing team at Magic Light; it was such an honour to watch and learn from them,” says Mike Buckland, head of production at Triggerfish. “We also feel immense gratitude towards our insanely hard-working, generous and talented crew, who fully deserve this recognition that their work stands up there with the best in the world. We’re hoping Revolting Rhymes’ success will inspire many more Africans to enter the animation industry, which is growing rapidly here but still not fast enough to keep up with demand. And we can’t wait for South African audiences to finally be able to see Revolting Rhymes when it comes to Showmax in the near future.”<\/p>\n
Magic Light Pictures\u2019 third collaboration with Triggerfish,\u00a0The Highway Rat,\u00a0premiered on BBC One this\u00a0Christmas, achieving total audience ratings of 6.0 million viewers and 31.2% share for the Christmas Day premiere, making it the eighth most-watched programme of the day.\u00a0An adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler\u2019s\u00a0bestseller,\u00a0The Highway Rat\u00a0is a swashbuckling tale of bandits and biscuits the whole family will enjoy. David Tennant (Doctor Who,\u00a0Broadchurch) leads an impressive cast in the title role.<\/p>\n
Following the success of\u00a0The Highway Rat, BBC ONE and Magic Light Pictures have announced that an animated adaptation of Donaldson and Scheffler\u2019s\u00a0Zog\u00a0is set for BBC One this coming Christmas.<\/p>\n
Zog\u00a0is about a loveable young dragon finding his way in a magical, yet challenging world. The animated half hour is being directed by Max Lang, Oscar-nominated director of\u00a0Room on the Broom\u00a0and\u00a0The Gruffalo, and by South African\u00a0Daniel Snaddon, co-director of\u00a0Stick Man.\u00a0The film\u00a0is being produced by Michael Rose and Martin Pope of Magic Light Pictures, with animation services again being provided by Triggerfish Animation in Cape Town.<\/p>\n
Zog\u00a0was first published in 2010 by Alison Green Books (an imprint of Scholastic). It won the Galaxy National Children\u2019s Book of the Year Award and has sold over 1.5 million copies.\u00a0For the fourth year running, Donaldson is the UK\u2019s number one bestselling author (across children\u2019s and adult books). Donaldson and\u00a0Scheffler are the UK\u2019s number one picture book pair.<\/p>\n