Wayne Thornley 

WAYNE Thornley has worked in the Cape Town film industry since 2000 as an actor and live-action director. After making the leap to animation, he directed a number of episodes for US television series. He is the co-founder of The Crucial Project and was named in the 2011 Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans list.

Adventures in Zambezia stars the voices of Jeremy Suarez, Samuel L. Jackson, Leonard Nimoy, Abigail Breslin,  and Jeff Goldblum 

Cape Town’s Triggerfish Animation Studios was established with the aim of making world-class animated feature films capable of competing with the output of companies such as Pixar and Dreamworks. If this beautifully animated and engagingly told tale – the company’s first film – is anything to go by, Triggerfish will soon be a force to be reckoned with.

Adventures in Zambezia tells the story of Kai (voiced by Jeremy Suarez), a high-spirited young falcon who lives in a lonely outpost with his strict father, Tendai (Samuel L. Jackson). Kai’s suspicions that there must be more to life are confirmed when a kooky stork named Gogo, and Tini, her weaver co-pilot, crash into his world, and tell him of a bustling bird city downriver with exciting opportunities for a talented flier such as himself.

Kai leaves the outpost and follows the river to find Zambezia. When he gets there, he discovers the truth about his origins and learns the true value of community. Also starring the voices of Jeff Goldblum, Richard E. Grant and Leonard Nimoy.

The film will be shown at this year’s Durban International Film Festival.

South Africa’s longest-running film festival, the Durban International Film Festival runs across 12 days at the end of July, presenting over 290 screenings of current films from around the world, with strong focus on South African and African cinema. Screenings take place throughout Durban including township areas where cinemas are non-existent.