Amid the harsh realities of South African apartheid, two boys—Themba and Joel—form a dangerous friendship. As hate and fear threaten to pull them apart, their bond faces its greatest challenge in the form of a life-saving gesture. Through their eyes, we glimpse a moment of innocence—where hope, empathy, and understanding still feel possible.
Created Together
APART is brought to life by a team of artists rooted in South African culture and history. Visionary writer Spike Lee infused the story with his bold perspective and personal cultural relevance. Grammy-winning South African musician Black Coffee shaped the film’s distinct soundscape as its Music Supervisor, and internationally-acclaimed local artist Pola Maneli directed the story with his rich visual style. Wardrobe designer Laduma Ngxokolo, South Africa’s leading fashion designer, created the distinctive isiXhosa style for the characters, fusing cultural heritage into the fabric of the story.
WriterSpikeLee
DirectorPolaManeli
Music SupervisorBlackCoffee
Wardrobe DesignerLadumaNgxokolo
The Craft
The film features two distinct animation styles. One draws directly from the iconic visual language of Pola Maneli’s work, which centers on Blackness and the multidimensional experiences of people of color in South Africa. Pola’s art has been widely recognized, appearing on the cover of The New Yorker and in the collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, among others. The film also incorporates elements of the woodcut print technique —an homage to the powerful, accessible, and easily reproducible art forms that were used to communicate anti-apartheid messages, bypass censorship, and document the struggles of Black South Africans between 1948 and 1994. In keeping with this tradition of human craft and artistic authorship, the entire film was created by human artists, with no AI used in its making.
The production combined four distinct animation techniques: traditional 2D frame-to-frame, cut-out, 3D, and 2.5D, resulting in a rich and layered visual style. It features a total animation duration of 12 minutes and 30 seconds of frame-to-frame animation, complemented by 1 minute and 16 seconds of cut-out animation and 1 minute and 33 seconds of 3D animation. In total, 18,000 frames were produced, with 9,000 of those animated on twos, reflecting a blend of efficiency and craftsmanship. Created over approximately 600 days using 14 different software tools, the project brought together a team of 266 professionals, including 157 animation artists and 50 members of the Art Department, whose expertise spanned production design, art direction, concept art, storyboarding, and motion design.
