About Anna Emm Productions...
"I believe that a good story can inspire, uplift, nourish and restore like no other
medium on earth..." - Anna Emm
Anna Emm Productions is a multimedia production company,
specializing in
the telling of stories through high
quality productions,
in order to inspire and entertain people of all ages!
Where it all started...
When Anna Emm studied primary school education at the Boland College in Wellington
she had no idea where this road would eventually take her. As a young teacher with
dreams of changing the world, she was employed at a school with children from poor,
disadvantaged areas. She soon discovered that teaching kids maths and science
when they are hungry, traumatised, and broken, is a wasted effort. After one of her
grade 2 girls were molested, and another girl's father was killed in a domestic fight,
Anna turned to her love for stories to sooth and distract the children. She started reading
a story to the children after every lesson, and they soon worked their way through the
small school library, reading everything from Dr Suess to Roald Dahl! When she ran out
of books, she started writing her own stories, making the children in her class characters
in their own adventures. The effect that these stories had on the children was profound.
It not only calmed them, but fed their creativity and self confidence. Even the weakest
students started to draw beautiful pictures, write their own stories, and join in
group discussions with excitement and imagination! They were happier, more alert, and
started improving in all their other subjects. It was then that Anna started to
do research about using stories as therapy, and soon she knew her dream to change
the world can be achieved through the telling of stories.
In 2001 she quit her job as primary school teacher. In 2003 she landed a job as writer
and director on the sets of two small television series', and gained some very valuable
production experience. In 2004 she wrote and directed her debut theatre production,
"The Rag Doll", as a personal statement and introduction to the entertainment industry.
"The Rag Doll" saw the launch of her production company, Anna Emm Productions, in 2004,
as Anna stepped out into tough world of multimedia productions with a big dream: to change
the world one story at a time! She has never looked back.
What we've done so far...
Since 2004 Anna Emm Productions has produced more than 500 orginial
children's stories on CD, and distributed them all over South Africa to
retailers like Musica, Look & Listen, Kalahari.net, Leisure Books and Exclusive Books. We have also created
6 different educational story sets that we distribute to schools, parents and therapist. Our children's
theatre department has produced 13 orginal children's theatre productions,
performing more than 200 shows at theatres, schools and shopping malls in the Western Cape. We have also produced
4 successful stage productions for mature audiences, and written, produced and directed a
25min 3D animation episode for the children's series "Avonture in Wimpelpimpelland".
In 2009 we launched a drama academy for children in Durbanville and Paarl.
All the stories were written by Anna Emm.