Nick Cloete, the new chairman of Animation South Africa (ASA), announced the recently elected board after an AGM held 30 March 2015 facilitated by Martin Cuff. Animation SA is a section-21 non-profit organisation mandated by industry to develop and promote South African animation.
The four-person board of directors and the four sub-committee chairs bring together leading members of the industry, including business owners and academics.
The board of directors consists of:
Chairperson – Nick Cloete (3 year term)
CEO and producer at Minds Eye Creative in Johannesburg.
Vice Chair – Anthony Silverston (2 year term)
Head of Development at Triggerfish Animation Studios, Cape Town and writer/director of Khumba.
Secretary – Wendy Spinks (3 year term)
Co-founder, CEO and creative producer at Zeropoint Studios and MD of Pop the Culture in Cape Town.
Treasurer – Candice Argall (2 year term)
CEO and producer at Bugbox Animation Studio, Johannesburg.
The sub-committee’s elected chair persons were also announced. They are:
Sector Support:
Glenn Gillis, CEO of Sea Monster Entertainment in Cape Town.
Skills & Development:
Donovan Cook, lecturer at City Varsity in Cape Town.
Export Missions:
Nick Wilson, owner and MD of Car2n.tv and MY CHILD TV. Operations director at Pop the Culture, Johannesburg.
Marketing & Communications:
Ruan Smit, founder of Pixelsmith Studios in Cape Town.
They will serve a two-year term.
Nick Cloete the ASA chair said the new board and the sub-committee chairs would be tasked with providing strategic leadership to ASA and overseeing its performance through the sub-committees.
“Boosting education, skills and increasing capacity to create more jobs, as well as getting South African IP ready for international trade will be key goals for ASA in the next few years. I believe the members of this board have the attributes and experience needed to ensure that ASA plays a key role in delivering this mandate,” said Cloete.
Cloete went on to say that: “The first order of business would be the delegation to Annecy International Animation Festival in France following the special call that saw 36 projects submitted to the market (MIFA) with thanks to the Institut Francais (IFAS) and MIFA.”
A 41-strong delegation is planned to visit Annecy next month and represent South African animation and five South Africans will be pitching their projects having been selected for this prestigious opportunity.
The five projects select are:
1. The Crash – Julia Smuts Louw (International pitch, feature film)
2. Anansi – Andrew Cloete (International pitch, TV series)
3. Waterloo and Trafalgar – Matt Torode (Special SA pitch, short film)
4. Kariba – Daniel Clarke (Special SA pitch, Feature Film)
5. Muzi and Kuku – Tim Argall (Special SA pitch, TV series)