SA film wins Best Animation Emmy

Zog is the keenest but clumsiest pupil in his class at Dragon School, where he longs to win a gold star as he learns how to fly, roar and breathe fire. He keeps meeting a kindly young girl who patches up his bumps and bruises, but can she help him with his trickiest school assignment yet: capturing a princess? 

Animated in Cape Town by Triggerfish and produced by the UK’s Magic Light Pictures, the 27-minute animated short captures the magic of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s bestselling picture book, with an all-star voice cast including the likes of Kit Harington, Sir Lenny Henry and Tracey Ullman. It’s co-directed by multi-award-winning South African Daniel Snaddon (Stick Man) and two-time Oscar nominee Max Lang (The Gruffalo and Room On The Broom).   

This year Zog has been named Best Animation at the 2020 International Emmy Kids Awards and won the Children’s Programme Award from the Royal Television Society, among other honours like Kidscreen and Annie Awards nominations. 

Zog is now available to stream on Showmax. 

Another Donaldson and Scheffler adaptation, The Snail and the Whale, was also recently added to Showmax. Made by the same team as Zog, The Snail and the Whale follows the amazing journey of a tiny snail who longs to see the world and hitches a ride on the tail of a huge humpback whale. As the snail, Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) won Best Voice Performance at this year’s British Animation Awards, where the short was also up for Best Longform Animation and Best Use of Sound.