Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire is an Africanfuturist animated anthology short film series produced by Triggerfish. The series premiered this past week on the 5th of July 5, 2023 on Disney+. It showcases an African perspective, from one or more directors each episode, on themes such as social media, duality, disability, self-reflection, shared humanity, and other topics. The stories include concepts such as time travel, extraterrestrials, and alternate universes
The series brings together creators from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, and Egypt. Development of the series is said to have included a “multi-year research phase” to ensure the films accurately depicted specific cultures. Kizazi Moto was creatively led by Oscar-winner Peter Ramsey, SAFTA winner Anthony Silverston and renowned Zimbabwean producer Tendayi Nyeke as executive producers.
Tendayi has worked as a development executive on several SAFTA-nominated shows and has written, produced, and directed television programs across global platforms. Tendayi’s creative work is across genres. She co-developed the hit reality series Our Perfect Wedding which has been adapted across Africa.
Episode 6 of the 10 part series titled “Mukudzeu”, is also directed by two Zimbabwean directors, Tafadzwa Hove and Pious Nyenyewa, with Hove having also written it. It tells the story of a fame-hungry Zimbabwean boy who is transported to an alternate reality where his home country was never colonized. Hove described it to Okay Africa as showcasing the current 1st world countries being 3rd world countries and vice-versa.
Normally, you see posters saying things like, ‘Give money to Africa.’ So in our futuristic version of Zimbabwe, it’s the opposite. It’s like, ‘Give money to Canada!’ It was almost taken out, but we fought for it.
Pious Nyenyewa described working on the project as a journey of discovery. He also emphasised the difficulty of fitting meaningful storytelling in the required 10 minute limit for the episode. ZiFM radio personality Simba Mudereri lends his voice to the show as the character Jojoba. While adding to it’s Zimbabwe is the fact that the 30 second soundtrack for Kizazi Moto was done by YoungDLC and Poptain.
