Peter Ramsey talks to Pulse about ‘Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire’

Executive produced by Ramsey, Anthony Silverston of Triggerfish Animation, and Tendayi Nyeke, the project is a 10-part collection of original short films from 14 African directors and producers from Zimbabwe, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt.

Ahead of the release of the African anthology, Pulse spoke with the award-winning filmmaker about joining the project, and the potential of African animation:

I couldn’t say no. I was first exposed to the African animation community in 2019. I got invited to come to the Cape Town animation festival, and I was just blown away by the talent, the people, and the spirit that was here. I met a lot of filmmakers who ended up participating in Kizazi Moto, and the guys at Triggerfish Studios whose idea it was to put an anthology together. They called me almost a year after the festival and said, ‘Hey we’re doing this Anthology of films from the region and Disney+ is involved. Would you like to be involved?’ We really hit it up so, I immediately said yes. I had to do it because the creative energy there I felt was so inspiring to me. I was like, ‘Man if the rest of the world can see and feel this it really would be something.’ For me, that was my motivation and I’m just so I’m so glad that it all worked out and that the rest of the world is going to get a little bit of that feeling.

That’s like asking me to say what my favourite finger is on my hand. They’re all individual and that’s kind of the point. They’re all very unique. They’re all going to show the world that Africa has got lots of different individual voices that are all saying important, entertaining and fun stuff. So, I can’t pick one. I feel like it’s like a whole world of greatness.

These things always depend on the audience and how people respond to them. The thing is we kind of whittled down the number of films to 10 it could have easily been twice as many there are so many more stories to tell so I hope there’s a season two, three, four, five and on and on and on because there’s that much creative energy and spirit here.

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire is currently streaming across the world on Disney+.