Our Team

Sunrise is a remote-first studio. Our headquarters sit at the foot of Chapman’s Peak in Cape Town, South Africa, but our team of over 100 artists, animators, writers, and producers spans the globe.

Leadership

Jacqui Cunningham

Producer

Jacqui co-founded Sunrise with Phil over 25 years ago. She has a particular passion for mentoring people and building teams through the filmmaking process. Together, she and Phil have built the studio, made movies, and raised three children.

Phil Cunningham

Director, Producer

Phil co-founded Sunrise with Jacqui in 1998. Growing up in Zimbabwe, he saw how stories could cross barriers of culture, age, and language. He believed animation was the best medium to do it. Over 25 years, he and Jacqui have built Sunrise from a small team making stop-motion films to a global studio producing theatrical features.

Brent Dawes

Director, Writer

Brent has been Creative Lead at Sunrise for over two decades. He created the Jungle Beat series and directed Jungle Beat: The Movie, which reached the Netflix Top 10 worldwide. He co-wrote and co-directed Young David and the David feature film.

Rita Mbanga

Producer

Rita has 23 years of experience in animation and live-action production. She has been with Sunrise since 2002, producing all eight seasons of Jungle Beat and both feature films, plus Young David and David. She served on the jury at Annecy (2022), El Ojo Cojo (2022, 2023), and Animasyros (2024), and mentors through the Women in Animation program.

Tim Keller

Producer

Tim has produced five seasons of Jungle Beat, both feature films, Young David, and David. He launched the Jungle Beat YouTube channel, which has grown to over 13 million subscribers and 7 billion views.