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African animation Seal Team makes a splash on Netflix Top 10 Films in 27 countries around the world
Triggerfish’s third animated feature, Seal Team, is making a splash on Netflix’s global Top 10 films for the week ending 9 January 2022, with members watching over 10 million hours, making it the ninth most-watched film on Netflix in 27 countries!
Seal Team, which launched on New Year’s Eve, is the story of Quinn, a seal who spends his days relaxing in the sun, splashing in the beautiful waters off the coast of Cape Town, and swimming for his life from Great White Sharks. When he decides it’s time for the food chain to bite back, Quinn recruits a ragtag team of likeminded seals brave, stupid and crazy enough to try and teach those sharks a lesson.
Decider says, “Seal Team has laughs-a-plenty and a sense of good natured camaraderie in its heart,” not to mention “inspired voice casting” and “the kind of sight gags that look beyond cartoon kids’ fare.”
Common Sense Media recommends Seal Team for ages six and up, saying, “Though it doesn’t have the big-name studios behind it, this movie holds its own in the animation and voice acting categories… You can’t help but root for the seals.”
The all-star cast is far from wet behind the ears. Jessie T. Usher (A-Train in The Boys) stars as Quinn, opposite the likes of Oscar winner J.K. Simmons (Omni-Man in Invincible), Emmy winner Matthew Rhys (Philip in The Americans), Emmy nominee Kristen Schaal (Mabel inGravity Falls, The Guide in What We Do In The Shadows) and four-time Annie Awards nominee Patrick Warburton (Joe Swanson in Family Guy), as well as South African stars Sharlto Copley (Wikus van der Merwe in District 9) and John Kani (Rafiki in The Lion King).
Grammy Award winner Seal plays a singing seal called Seal Seal and action legend Dolph Lundgren (The Expendables) portrays a dolphin called Dolph – two castings which tell you everything you need to know about both the film’s humour and how swimmingly everything fell into place for the production.
Seal Team is the feature film debut of South African writer-director Greig Cameron, working from a story by Wayne Thornley (Adventures in Zambezia) and Brian and Jason Cleveland.
“Believe it or not, our underwater military animal team is based on a real unit that trains seals and dolphins to disarm mines,” says Greig. “Admittedly, the real-life version probably isn’t armed with exploding sardines and octo-suits made out of octopi that can change colour…”
Of course, seals are the unlikeliest of action heroes, especially when on land. “They’re these weird, flubby, amorphous slabs of butter on land,” says Greig. “We went on a research trip diving with them. As we left the harbour in the boat, I was looking at these derpy seals just lying there on the jetty, and I was wondering, ‘Goodness gracious, how are we going to make an action movie with these guys?’ But then as soon as we got in the water, I was like, ‘Yes, this is going to work amazingly.’ When they get in the water, it’s not just that they’re faster: their whole bodies re-form into these darting bullets. They’re pretty much the physical manifestation of ‘squash-and-stretch’ animation.”
Greig leaned into the ridiculousness of the seals vs. sharks premise. “Cape fur seals forming a military SEAL team to fight sharks is something so silly and ridiculous, it makes me grin,” says Greig. “It makes everyone grin.”
But co-director Kane Croudace says for all its silliness, behind the madcap gags and rapid-fire punchlines, Seal Team is also an inspiring underdog story that everyone at Triggerfish related to.
“It’s about a hero who is brave, stupid and crazy enough to want to do the dangerously impossible,” says Kane. “That’s a theme that resonates throughout my working career. Right at the beginning of my time with Triggerfish, we wanted to make a feature film at the bottom of Africa with a totally inexperienced crew, which everyone said was impossible. We went and did it anyway. If anyone working at a ’proper’ studio had seen our workflows on Adventures In Zambezia, they would have given us 150/1 odds against us ever finishing it. But shielded by our stupidity and bravado, we managed to do it and we’ve got better with each subsequent project. So I think Quinn’s attitude to the task ahead is mirrored in our tenacity in getting these films made.”
Triggerfish’s first two films, Adventures in Zambezia and Khumba, sold nine million cinema tickets globally, placing them in the five biggest box office hits from Africa ever. Triggerfish then went on to animate the Oscar-nominated Roald Dahl adaptation Revolting Rhymes as well as four much-loved Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler adaptations, including the 2021 Annie Award winner The Snail and the Whale and the 2020 International Emmy-winning Zog, all produced by Magic Light Pictures.
The 25-year-old studio is currently producing three Africa-focused TV series: Mama K’s Team 4 for Netflix; Kiya for eOne, Disney Junior and Disney+; and the anthology Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire, for Disney+.
The 2021 Annecy International Animation Festival awarded Triggerfish the Mifa Animation Industry Award for “the pioneering role that the company has played in animation in South Africa, and Africa most widely,” according to Véronique Encrenaz, head of Mifa.
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Sonnie Badu claims 78% of American Gospel artistes are members of the LGBTQIA community
Multiple award-winning Ghanaian gospel singer and pastor, Sonnie Badu has opened up about his decision to restrict his children from accessing YouTube due to concerns over the abundance of LGBTQ+ content. (more…)
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Kofi Adjorlolo lambasts Ghanaian TV stations showing Nigerian movies for free on local channels
Legendary Ghanaian actor, Kofi Adjorlolo has voiced his concern over Ghanaian TV stations airing Nigerian movies for free and without permission on local channels. (more…)
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I’m ready to share my connections with other musicians – MOG
Contemporary Ghanaian gospel singer and songwriter, Nana Yaw Boakye, better known by the stage name MOG Music has stated that he is ready to help his fellow crooners with the little connections he has to help project Ghanaian music. (more…)
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‘Kuami Eugene is alive and receiving treatment’ – Lynx Entertainment issues statement
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Ghana International Trade Fair Center on the eviction and demolition of Fantasy Dome
The Ghana Trade Fair Company Limited has dismantled the “Fantasy Dome,” owned by Fantasy Entertainment, which has been on the trade fair site since January 2018, to pave way for developers to complete the ongoing “Ghana International Trade Fair Center Development Project.”
The dismantled facility will be available to its owners for it to be relocated.
The tenancy agreement between owners of the Fantasy Dome and the Trade Fair Company Limited expired on 31 December 2023. Since then, all efforts by the management of the Trade Fair Company Limited to get “Fantasy Entertainment” to remove the “Fantasy Dome” from the Trade Fair site has proved futile.
The CEO of Fantasy Entertainment has stated in a Saturday March 17th interview that he has an injunction, but the Trade Fair Company Limited has VEHEMENTLY DENIED any such injunction. In fact the company states that it has not been served with any court processes and no injunction was served on the day of the demolition.
Ironically, access to the portion of the site where the “Fantasy Dome” is situated at the Trade Fair site is vital for developers to construct the power and water infrastructure for the project as well as the drainage system to serve the new Ghana International Trade Fair Center. The dome has hampered the progress of these works for approximately 12 months.
To this end, the Trade Fair Company Limited on Saturday, 16 March 2024, embarked on an exercise supervised by the Ghana Police Service with support from the National Security Ministry to take down the “Fantasy Dome” in order for construction works on the Trade Fair site to proceed freely.
Brief background
The Ghana Trade Fair Company (GTFCL) was established by an Executive Instrument (EI) in 1960 as a project to facilitate Ghana’s post-independence trade and industrialization drive.
The Executive Instrument 10 acquired a 239.92-acre land for this purpose and to showcase Ghana’s exports with the view to attracting investors into its fledgling economy.
From its origins in 1960, GTFCL has metamorphosed into a limited liability company strategically positioned to promote and facilitate trade in Ghana.
There have been attempts by successive governments to revive the company through various public-private partnership initiatives. These attempts have focused on redeveloping the entire center under various themes. The current redevelopment project is considered as a core part of President Nana Akufo Addo’s vision to position Ghana as a trade hub for West Africa.
The new Ghana International Trade Fair Center Development Project, when completed, would have a convention and an exhibition center, a technology hub, retail mall, commercial offices, hotel accommodation, and public realm spaces.
Infrastructure works and construction of the major exhibition center are now underway.
It is under the Akufo-Addo government that the company was revived to successfully undertake an aggressive redevelopment of the site. The management and board of directors of the company under this government have worked tirelessly to turn the company into a commercially viable business today and have secured funding from development partners to develop the site.
The new GTFC
The new Ghana International Trade Fair Center Development Project, when completed, would have a convention and an exhibition center, a technology hub, retail mall, commercial offices, hotel accommodation, and public realm spaces.
Infrastructure works and construction of the major exhibition center are now underway.
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