Who loves a good love story? Well, here’s one for the ages! And we have absolutely no idea what exactly is in it, except, that, Till Death is a feature length animated movie and promises an exciting psychological thriller.
The tweet below from Kofi Kyei, one of the creators, filled the entire team with excitement.
With everything about this new project under wraps, there isn’t much to go but the official poster (which in itself exudes mystery as the title is incomplete and punctuated with ellipses. I mean “Till Death”, what? Do us part? Resurrects us?)
To find answers, we hunted down the writer with torches and wild goats (we reached out on Instagram) and placed him in a box until he sang.
Nurse by day, and a self-made filmmaker at heart, Kofi Kyei is the CEO of Saber Philms and the man behind award-winning Ghanaian film, ’95. His discography also includes Beautiful Mind. Having written Till Death in 2017, his manuscript is coming to life in a form we love, animation.
Here’s Kofi on Till Death…
Who is Kofi Kyei in 5 short phrases?
I’m a self-taught filmmaker and nurse by profession.
What is Till Death about?
It’s a psychological drama about a young woman who has to keep a promise she made regardless of its unfavourable consequences.
What inspired the film?
I went to a film workshop some years back and in a training exercise, we were asked to come up with a story in 5 minutes. This is what I came up with.
You wrote this in 2017. That’s 4 year of marinating. Why now?
I don’t believe in rushing to make something happen. If it takes a long time for you to do it and get it right, so be it. No point in being hasty to release half baked projects.
Before we go any further, what style of animation did you employ – 2D, 3D, Stop Motion, Rotoscoping? What informed this choice?
2D… or as I choose to call this particular one, 2 and half D. It’s 2D, but almost in the scope of 3d. If you’ve ever seen the animated series Iron Man Armoured Wars, you’ll know what I’m talking about
What about animation attracted you to make a film in this medium?
Animation is flexible. It’s unrestricted. You can make a character’s head spin 360 degrees clockwise for 24 hours. Do that to an actual person and you’ll be having a funeral. I chose animation to help me explore and execute it better.
Who did you work with on this and how was it like writing for animation and working with the team, considering this is your first rodeo into animation – it is, right?
This is actually my second animated film project. I’ve been working on my first for about 5 years now. Fortunately or unfortunately, we’ve been able to complete this one now. So in perspective, my second animated film project is officially my first since it came out before the original first project. And I have folks at Acute Formula animations and Light Map post to thank for this. They’re just the best.
We’re obviously spoiler hunting but “a woman confronts her deepest fears while trying to fulfill an eternal vow…” is all you give us. What should we expect?
Well, you’ve seen the poster obviously. But I can tell you this for sure. “Till Death…” is NOT a love story. You can expect your mind to be played around with a little bit.
When’s the release date and where/how will it be released?
We’re still in post production so if and when it’s ready, I’ll give more updates. But rest assured, it’ll be ready before the end of the year.
If you had to pick a shape for the honeycomb challenge, and they were only using Ghanaian symbols, which would you pick? PS: it can only reflect your character.
Owuo Atwede3… that way, if I died in the process, I’d go with a punchline.
Tell us a little about Acute Formula
Acute Fomula is an animated film company based in Accra, who work on all kind of animations be it 2D or 3D. They have an incredible work ethic and each member has an amazing array of special talents they bring to the team.
They’re so fun to work with. They pay attention to detail and really do listen to input. They’re always open to suggestions and honestly I don’t know where my animated works would be without them.
Update 22.12.2021: Previously wrote that Till Death was a feature length animation. It’s a short film and the article has been updated accordingly.
What do you think?
Show comments / Leave a comment