To most people trash is what it is, just trash. But to the folks at Sunrise Productions in Cape town, South Africa, trash could be a goldmine. Using an art form dubbed "junkmation," they have given a whole new meaning to the phrase, "One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure." The unique form of animated storytelling created by Sunrise uses actual junk for its characters.
Cunningham and Hawkin, the promoters of Sunrise productions say they got their inspiration from the street artisans in Zimbabwe, who use pieces of copper, wire, rubber, and all the bits of junk, to make up models and characters. From there, a love affair with junk began, "We used to just spend hours sitting around with junk till we got really intimate with junk. There is good junk and there is bad junk and there is some junk which is just junk, we have to sort it all out."
Using junk may not sound appealing, but there are some perks. Hawkins says, "You can shoot it pretty low tech, and the junk certainly doesn’t cost anything. I think it’s so redemptive, to be able to recycle junk and create something beautiful and original out of it. To me it’s a parable that is quite inspiring, the first being last and the last being first."
The vision of the Sunrise productions company led to the release of Africa’s first animated feature film, "The Legend of the Sky Kingdom." The award-winning junkmation film tells the story of three children who make a daring escape from an underground city where they were enslaved. Next, came their first 3-D short animated film and three more animated films later, they are still developing ideas for future works.
Cunningham says, "Our passion is very clear, and that is to tell feature films in CGI animation and in live action, and then tell stories and books, but the primary focus will be on film." "Our goal is to make one movie a year and really go for quality movies rather than trying to push out loads of movies. We want to tell movies that are story driven and well made."
It seems animation is not the only way Sunrise Productions is making its mark on the world. One of its novels, titled "The Eighth Son," tells the true life story of King David, with a fairytale twist. Cunningham says he, "felt that as a biblical character, it could inspire young people to realize that God is not a stuffy, boring sort of headmaster kind of character."
The journey continues, the company is currently working on the feature film, "The Silent Fall," a sobering look at those who exploit the horrific HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa to make money. Cunningham says it is titled, "The Silent Fall," "because it’s the silent fall of Africa. Other obvious things like the Twin Towers and the Tsunami are very visible, whereas with AIDS, it’s a silent killer, but the devastation and the effects are just as strong. There are 300,000 people dying from AIDS in Africa every month, It’s like a Tsunami hitting Africa every month. Or if we took the twin towers, it’s like the twin towers falling twice a day in Africa.
Sunrise Productions has its hands in a lot of pots, but the producers say it’s all for a good cause. Hawkins says "for us to really have an impact in God’s kingdom, the answer is to just be willing to lay down our lives, to utterly have nothing in our heart that seek fame and fortune." www.sunrise.co.za.
