Known by many for his Kalabanda Ate My Homework film, Raymond Malinga is taking the Ugandan flag to Disney. He was selected as one of 10 African animators for Disney.
Kalabanda Ate My HomeWork is animation short film created by Robin Malinga and directed by his blood brother Raymond Malinga. The film stars Martha Kay, Faith Kisa with Patrick Salvador Idringi and Daniel Omara. It tells a story of Tendo a primary school pupil who came to school without her homework and when asked why she didn’t hand in her homework, she gives an excuse that a Kalabanda (a mythical creature) ate her homework.
Malinga, who is the brain behind Creatures Animation Studio, will represent Uganda as one of the top toon talents from six African nations selected to produce an original anthology of animated films dubbed Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire. The films will show on Disney Plus in 2022.
“There was a call in 2020 for directors and other creatives who had a story to tell across Africa. It was done through Triggerfish Animation Studios (South Africa) and we applied, shared a couple of ideas which we thought were good for telling an African story,” Malinga said.
Out of the 70 people who submitted ideas, only 10 were chosen. It was at this stage that applicants were informed that Disney was part of the project..
Malinga says the idea is to have a group of stories all tied together by similar themes, yet staying independent – ideas akin to Dark Mirror, Love Death, and Robots on Netflix or The Animatrix.
“There are 10 different films and mine is about 10-12minutes. I don’t know whether they will be released as episodes or as one film where one can watch them back to back. My job is to make the film and that when people watch it, Ugandans are proud,” Malinga said.
He notes that he is already at work with teams from Disney, Triggerfish and other talents from all over the world.
Malinga hints that the film is titled Herder Boy and conforms to what Disney is trying to create: immortal, science fiction, futuristic stories from Africa that shine a new perspective on what African stories can be.
Malinga started his animation career in 2010 in Malaysia where he did his Bachelor’s in Animation and Visual Effects. In 2014, he came back home to start his own animation studio.
His short film, A Kalabanda Ate my Homework is a six-time award-winning film that also represented Uganda at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018 and won the African International Film Festival, Animation Award with other 15 nominations.