About
Nadia Darries is a SAFTA and Annie-winning director, and co-founder of Goon Valley Animation.
She co-wrote and co-directed the Annie Award–winning Star Wars: Visions Season 2 episode Aau’s Song, and is currently co-directing the indie animated feature project Crocodile Dance, now in development.
Her earlier credits include animating at Triggerfish Animation Studios on the BBC specials Stick Man, Revolting Rhymes, and Highway Rat.
She directs narrative, educational, and commissioned projects and is known for her ability to drive thoughtful, emotive performances from animated characters.
Practice & Approach
I bring both sensitivity and systems thinking to each project, often working where ideas need translation between intention, structure, and execution.
Throughout a project’s life cycle, I’m attentive to the story's pulse; the relational truths that give it impact and coherence.
When I lead, I value collaboration and an active engagement with the practical realities of production.
BACKGROUND
My contextual background has deepened my sensitivity to the currents beneath behaviour and narrative, to the poetry in our complexity. It allows me to enter stories with curiosity rather than fixed assumptions.
I am a descendant of trans-oceanic slavery in Cape Town, and the youngest of seven siblings raised within one of South Africa’s most segregated regions. This lineage has nurtured a deep attentiveness to human expression and belonging.
