As the first animated kids show to feature Indigenous Australians, Little J & Big Cuz explores culture, community and country and reinforces the cognitive development of children.
Producer Ned Lander describes how the opportunity for the series came about.
“I was approached by the Australian Council for Educational Research about using media to help ‘close the gap’ in education for Indigenous children. My feeling was that their project needed a ‘beating heart’, a show that would engage and entertain Indigenous kids and their families. A show they could laugh with and identify with, which valued both Indigenous and Western knowledge and learning. Animation offered the possibility of our characters appearing in different country and speaking in different languages.”
Ned teamed up with some incredible screen talent including director, artist and animator, Tony Thorne, screenwriters Dot West, Beck Cole, Erica Glynn, Bruce Pascoe and Danielle MacLean. Among the much-loved actors voicing the characters are Miranda Tapsell, Deborah Mailman, Ningali Lawford-Wolf, Aaron Fa’oso and Mark Coles Smith.
“I learned from an Aboriginal colleague that in Tasmania there was a wonderful artist and animator, Tony Thorne, who’d been working on all sorts of big shows, like the Harry Potter movies but he had never had the opportunity to create a show with Aboriginal characters,” Ned commented.
“We connected strongly, discussing every aspect of the look, feel and content of the show. Tony’s beautiful imagery, the clever scripts from Aboriginal writers across Australia and the brilliant performances of the Aboriginal cast make Little J & Big Cuz so appealing.”
Collaboration was a critical part of the project for Tony. “I started with an attitude that as an Aboriginal Tasmanian I could not know the nuanced and varied world of contemporary Aboriginal communities across Australia, so I was always open to input from writers and all indigenous stakeholders contributing to Little J & Big Cuz,” he said.
“This meant tweaking and changing many things as we went along, from character design, to colour palette in the landscape, and body language in the animation. The aim was always to create the feel of contemporary Aboriginal life.”
To date the series has produced versions in six languages and the team are hopeful of finding a way to gradually make language versions right across Australia.
Script Producer Clare Madsen said “One of the innovations of Little J and Big Cuz is creating a voice that would speak to kids and their families from remote areas to urban communities and everywhere in between.”
Ned and Tony commented “We hope national audiences will be engaged and entertained by Nanna, Little J, Big Cuz, Old Dog and their friends."
"We hope Aboriginal audiences will enjoy seeing positive, joyful images of themselves and their children …and that non-Indigenous audiences will find the show a lot of fun and a window into a truly Australian world where they can experience the diversity of Australian languages and cultures they may not yet have been lucky enough to connect with.”
Little J & Big Cuz screens from 28 April on NITV.