‘Just do it. Believe in yourself and put in the work’
- Wits Alumni Relations
2025 Emmy winner, Lesego Vorster, offers advice for young filmmakers
Lesego Vorster (BA FA 2013, PDipArt 2016) received the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for Character Design for Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire (Disney+) at the 3rd Annual Children’s & Family Emmy® Awards in Los Angeles in March 2025.
The co-founder of Johannesburg-based The Hidden Hand Studios, told CallSheet soon after the accolade that it all came as a complete surprise: “It’s started to sink in with all the media coverage now and getting to accept the award on stage at the ceremony in LA. But I still pull it out every day just to check that my mind wasn’t playing a huge elaborate joke, you know, like those dreams where you learn to fly only to wake up and realise you had lost the trick of it.”
Vorster is a former lecturer at Wits and at The Animation School and he studied at the prestigious Gobelins l’ecole de l’image in Paris. Despite the lure to stay in Europe, he returned to South Africa with a clear mission to share what he had learned with others.
He became part of the team that started up the animation internship at Wits’ Tshimologong Precinct alongside Isabelle Rorke, when Disney called him up through Triggerfish to pitch for the Kizazi Moto anthology.
Vorster took time out from his busy schedule to respond for a quick chat with Wits Alumni Relations:
What does this accolade mean to you?
The Emmy Award proves that there is a place at the international level for Authentic African Aesthetics. The Emmy is not only mine, it's for the country, the entire continent and for the future generations of animated film-makers as an indicator that their existence is a must.
Artists resist labels, but would you be able to describe your style?
My style is simply authentically African. I use a lot of fun shapes, textures and patterns which borrow from all that I grew up seeing and is heavily influenced by what's around me.
How did this project with Disney come about?
Potential directors from all over Africa were invited to pitch for an afro-futurist anthology with Disney. More than 150 individuals were initially contacted, and the projects were narrowed down to the 10 that finally made it into Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire on Disney+.
What are your memories of your time at Wits? Are there any abiding values that are still with you?
My time at Wits was truly formative and I would not exchange that experience for anything. The biggest thing that stuck with me from my Fine Arts degree is accountability. The lecturers at Wits used to treat us like adults who were responsible for their own time management, lecture attendance and making time to be in studio. This was the first time I had to be accountable for how I used my time to such a degree, so much so that in my first year, I had a hard time with balancing my academia with the fun times and the fun times almost won me over. I received a reality check after almost failing, then I became dedicated to my practice, enjoyed it even more, learnt how to say no to distractions and flourished until the end of my degree.
Do you have advice for aspiring animators?
My advice for aspiring animators and artists is to do it. Just do it. Believe in yourself and put in the work because belief without work is just a wish and that has never helped anyone. So work hard, work smart, support other artists and the universe will see it fit to return the favour a thousand-fold.
Watch a trailer from "Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire", which features Vorster's award-winning work.