Diek Grobler started animating in 2000 after a lifelong fascination with temporal disciplines. Animation proved to be the perfect vehicle for his talents in storytelling, illustration, visual art, performance art and experimental theatre.
Grobler has worked with well-known South African musicians and television networks alongside a successful career in independent short-form films that travel the international festival circuit.
In 2006 Diek Grobler developed three episodes for a children’s environmental series called Sanna’s Garden.
Diek Grobler’s first independent short film Little Bang was produced by Fopspeen Moving Pictures with co-founder Charles Badenhorst – a musician, sound engineer and animator. The puppets and sets were created by visual artist Marinda du Toit.
Through his animation company Grobler has animated and directed music videos for well-known South African artists Karin Hougaard and Karin Zoid, and worked on KykNet television network series Blikskottel and Uit Die Bloute. Short-form animation films include Agenda and Net Een Slukkie Padda.
Diek Grobler’s love of poetry and experimental film led him to explore animated poetry in 2010, creating animated visuals for live poetry performances of South African poet Danie Marais. This ultimately led to the realisation of the animation + poetry project Filmverse in 2014 and again in 2016, for which he was the creative director.
In Duitsland. Poem by Danie Marais, animation by Diek Grobler (2010).
Saturday Night Live. Poem by Danie Marais, animation by Diek Grobler (2010).
Klein Cardo. Poem by Ronelda S. Kamfer, animation by Diek Grobler (2012).
RECENT PROJECTS
Diek Grobler has been invited to present at the Annecy animated film festival in June 2018. He will be presenting Laaste Woord, an animated poetry film about the loneliness of being the last survivor of a language, a culture, and a generation. The film is inspired by South African poet Martjie Bosman’s Vanishing Voices.
Laaste Woord was selected as one of 11 projects from 158 short film entries across the globe to present at the 2018 Mifa pitching session in Annecy.
The film is due for completion by the end of 2019, combining traditional and digital animation techniques such as cut-outs, drawing on paper, and 2D digital animation effects.
PREVIEW CLIP
PROJECT DIARY: Last Word (2018)
Project development diary for the animation ‘Last Word’.
