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Khumba is a 2013 South African animated Xenofiction comedy film directed and co-produced by Anthony Silverston and written by Silverston and Raffaella Delle Donne. The film stars the voices of Jake T. Austin, Steve Buscemi, Loretta Devine, Laurence Fishburne, Richard E. Grant, AnnaSophia Robb, Anika Noni Rose, Catherine Tate, Ben Vereen, and Liam Neeson. It is the second movie made by Triggerfish Animation Studios and is distributed by Millennium Entertainment in the US. The international distribution rights are being licensed by Cinema Management Group. The film is about Khumba, a zebra who is half-striped like a quagga and is blamed for the lack of rain throughout the land by most of his herd. He embarks on a quest to earn his missing stripes.
The film was dedicated in memory of Quagga Project founder Reinhold Rau, who died on February 11, 2006. Rau was known for efforts to use selective-breeding to recreate the extinct quagga, a close relative of the plains zebra. The film premiered at the TIFF on September 8, 2013, and was released on 25 October 2013 by Indigenous Film Distribution. Khumba received mixed reviews from critics and was a Box-office bomb, only grossing $28.4 million worldwide against a $20 million budget.
One day, a African mantis inspires Khumba by drawing a striated map locating water. Khumba admits a group of into the watering-hole and is scolded by the herd. A vicious leopard named Phango warns Mkhulu that the herd must leave to find water. Lungisa tells the story of how the first zebras were plain white. One day, a young zebra journeyed across the Karoo, and discovered a magic watering hole in a cave. After swimming in the water, he came out with stripes. The other zebras swam in the magic water and also received stripes.
Following Lungisa's death, Khumba ventures out and encounters an African wild dog named Skalk. A maternal wildebeest named Mama V saves him from trouble, accompanied by an Common ostrich named Bradley. As the three search for water, Bradley reveals that he was almost sent to death in a slaughterhouse. Khumba aids a migrating herd of springbok in opening a hole in a great fence to continue journeying forward.
Khumba's group wanders into a bohemian community of animals living in Ying's National Park. After narrowly escaping capture by who tranquilizer gun Bradley and trap Khumba in a cage, Khumba and his friends ascend a nearby mountain to speak to the Black Eagle.
Khumba encounters a group of who worship the Black Eagle and stymie his advance. From the albino Black Eagle, he learns the way to the watering hole and that it lies in Phango's cave. The Black Eagle also reveals that Phango murdered his clan as revenge for being rejected when he was a cub, due to him being born with one eye blind, which gave him a keener sense of smell to be a better hunter. Unbeknownst to Khumba, the reason Phango is hunting him because of an ancient leopard myth that foretold the birth of a half-striped zebra, and the leopard that ate the zebra will be the most powerful hunter. Seko is remorseful that he has let his herd down. With Tombi’s help, he realizes that if he does not lead his herd in search of another waterhole, they will all die. He follows the trail of Phango.
While Khumba wanders the depths of the dark cave, his herd arrives at the base of the mountain, along with many of the other animals he has encountered along his journey. Within the cave, Khumba finds the watering hole and upon reflecting on Lungisa's words and all of the interactions he has had, he realizes that diversity is essential for survival that would be one's difference that can, in fact, be one's strength. As Phango closes in, he ends up chasing after Khumba. Khumba races to escape his clutches as the cave starts to collapse. The assembled animals watch the fight between Khumba and Phango, which results in both of them falling due to the collapsing cave. Phango falls off the cliff where he is killed by two large rocks falling on him, while Khumba falls into the water and his body washes up on the shores. As it starts to rain, everyone begins to mourn Khumba until he suddenly awakens from his apparent death.
With Phango dead and the zebra herd now having a new home, Khumba celebrates with his herd, Mama V, Bradley, Skalk, Nora, the gemsbok herd, the springbok herd, the animals from Ying's National Park, and the rock hyraxes, who all now live together and engage in different activities around the waterfall.
Jon Olson provides the vocal effects of additional animals.
| Zanzibar International Film Festival | ZIFF 2014 : THE WINNERS >Zanzibar International Film Festival | Anthony Silverston | rowspan=1 |
| Africa Movie Academy Awards | Best Animation Triggerfish Takes Top Animation Prize at Africa Movie Academy Awards | Anthony Silverston | rowspan=1 |
| SAFTAs 2014 | Best Music Composition of a Feature Film | Bruce Retief | rowspan=1 |
| Best Animation | Triggerfish Animation | rowspan=1 | |
| Gold Panda Awards | Best Overseas Animated Feature | Triggerfish Animation | rowspan=1 |
| Grand Prize for Animation | Triggerfish Animation | rowspan=1 | |
| Annecy Animation Festival 2013 | Best Feature | Anthony Silverston | rowspan=1 |
| Stuttgart Animation Festival | Animovie | Anthony Silverston | rowspan=1 |
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