South African film industry professionals have once again received well-deserved recognition on the global stage, this time at the 3rd Annual Children’s & Family Emmy® Awards, which took place in Los Angeles last week.

Among the winners announced by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) were Lesego Vorster, who received an award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for Character Design for Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire (Disney+), and Supervising Stunt Coordinator Franz Spilhaus and Stunt Coordinator Darrell McLean, who won the award for Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Live Action Program for their work on One Piece (Shueisha / Tomorrow Studios / Netflix).

“The producers and craftspeople recognised … are serving television’s youngest viewers and their families in creative and important ways. It is an honor to celebrate their exceptional work and achievements,” said Adam Sharp, President & CEO of NATAS. “We are proud to use the Children’s & Family Emmy Awards platform to celebrate them today and every day.”

Lesego says about his win: “Winning the Emmy came as an utter and complete surprise. It’s started to sink in with all the media coverage now and getting to accept the award on stage in L.A at the ceremony. But I still pull it out everyday 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. Humility aside, I am glad to see that my efforts to promote Authentic African Aesthetics are seen and validated on such a high level.”

Season 1 of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the beloved One Piece franchise received an overwhelmingly positive response from both fans and newcomers. Primarily filmed at Cape Town Film Studios, with filming of Season Two recently wrapped, the production leveraged a wealth of local film expertise including stunt performers and acting talent to bring this iconic story to life.

Franz said: “I am absolutely buzzing and ecstatic at the moment. This is such a great achievement for the South African stunt community.

“We’ve worked so hard for so many years and made so many other countries look good when they come over here. So to get the recognition as a stunt person in the South African stunt community is amazing, and is thoroughly deserved because we do have some of the best performers and riggers in the world, not just stunts, but the entire filming crew in South Africa is phenomenal. We’re definitely top draw.” 

Other notable winners at the Children’s & Family Emmy® Awards include Meryl Streep for Outstanding Children’s Personality, while Christian Slater was recognised as Outstanding Lead Performer in a Preschool, Children’s, or Young Teen Program. Jacob Tremblay earned his first Emmy in the Outstanding Younger Voice Performer in a Preschool, Children’s, or Young Teen Program category, while Phoenix Laroche won Outstanding Younger Performer in a Preschool, Children’s, or Young Teen Program, becoming one of the youngest Emmy winners. Meanwhile, Sesame Street’s Leslie Carrara-Rudolph received her first Emmy for Outstanding Puppetry Performer after seven nominations.

For the full list of winners visit: https://theemmys.tv/childrens/