ABOUT US

Our mission: To inspire you to dream, bring out your sense of wonder, and make YOU matter.

Founded in 2015, ten-time Emmy® award-winning Baobab Studios is a world leader in independent interactive animation. Named Most Innovative Company by Fast Company (2018), the studio is creatively led by writer/director Eric Darnell (Antz and all four Madagascar films). In addition to Namoo (2021), Baobab has released: INVASION! (2016), ASTEROIDS! (2017), Jack (2018), Crow: The Legend (2018), Bonfire (2019) and Baba Yaga (2021). The studio also executive produced Paper Birds (Part I: 2020, Part II: 2021). Baobab Studios projects have starred Oprah, John Legend, Ali Wong, Kate Winslet, Daisy Ridley, Glenn Close, Lupita Nyong'o, Jennifer Hudson, Edward Norton, Diego Luna, Ethan Hawke, and many others. Its slate of original projects is currently being adapted into books, comics, films, games, series, and more.

Namoo (2021). Written and directed by Oscar®-nominated Erick Oh (Opera), Namoo is a hand-crafted, narrative poem come to life. Inspired by the passing of Erick’s grandfather, Namoo -- which translates to “Tree” in Korean -- marks Oh’s most personal work to date. The film follows the beautiful and heartbreaking moments of a man’s life, from beginning to end.

Baba Yaga (2021). Winner of three Emmy® Awards -- including Best Interactive Media and Best Directing Team of an Animated Program -- Baba Yaga blends theater and film into a unique experience that explores themes of female empowerment and environmentalism. Starring Daisy Ridley, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Hudson and Glenn Close, the story is shot from a first-person perspective, inviting audiences into a haunting fairytale world completely reimagined, putting them right at the center of the action.

Crow: The Legend (2018). A traditional linear animated short film and an interactive VR experience, Crow: The Legend won four trophies, the most awards of any animated program or series, traditional and/or interactive, at the 2019 Emmy® Awards. The film also won the first-ever Annie Award for Best Virtual Reality Production. The story was inspired by a Native American myth and stars a diverse cast including John Legend, Oprah, Constance Wu, Diego Luna, Liza Koshy, Tye Sheridan, Sarah Eagle Heart, and Randy Edmonds, and features Legend’s original song, “When You Can Fly.”

ASTEROIDS! (2017). An Emmy®-winning VR animation starring Elizabeth Banks, was an official 2017 Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival selection.

INVASION! (2016). An Emmy®-winning VR animation, starring Ethan Hawke, launched to critical-acclaim and became a top downloaded VR experience upon release.

Jack: Part One (2018). A location-based immersive theater experience, Jack: Part One features the voice of Academy Award® winner Lupita Nyong'o, and world premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Bonfire (2019). Starring Ali Wong, Bonfire world premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival to critical-acclaim for its narrative and interactivity with innovative AI systems. Bonfire also received the first-ever grand jury Best in Show Award for XR at SIGGRAPH and secured top honors at the Sandbox Film Festival, was a Best of 2019 selection at Venice Film Festival, and won the Best VR trophy at the 2020 Annie Awards.

Galactic Catch (2023). An Emmy®-winning VR experience which is the third installment of the ‘INVASION!’ franchise.

Baobab’s IP is currently being adapted into books (MacMillan, Penguin Random House), films (Roth/Kirschenbaum, Disney) and original series with the premium streamers, and games. Investors include: Peter Chernin, Shari Redstone (Chairwoman, ViacomCBS), Disney, Comcast, Liz Murdoch, Samsung, Shanghai Media Group, Youku/Alibaba, and their advisors include Glen Keane (legendary Disney animator of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast), Alvy Ray Smith (Pixar Co-Founder), Glenn Entis (PDI/DreamWorks Animation Co-Founder), Jane Rosenthal (Co-Founder Tribeca Film Festival), Maggie Malone (Former Head of Creative Affairs Disney Feature Animation, Illumination, Netflix), Mireille Soria (President, Paramount Animation, former President DreamWorks Animation).

Baobab Studios has raised $31M from leading media and tech investors.

THE TEAM

Founders and Leadership

Maureen Fan

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Maureen has held leadership roles in film, gaming and the consumer web. Fan was most recently VP of Games at Zynga, where she oversaw three game studios including FarmVille, which contributed 40% of the company’s revenues. Previously, she worked on Pixar's Toy Story 3 film and at eBay in product management and UI design. Her collaboration, The Dam Keeper, directed by Dice Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo, was nominated for the 2015 Oscar Best Animated Short. Maureen was named one of ‘The Most Creative People of the Year’ by Ad Age, Top 100 Influential Asians by A100, and Variety crowned her as one of the execs to watch earning a spot on their ‘Top Digital Creatives’ list. As an advocate for diversity in the entertainment, Maureen is an active member of many organizations for minority groups and women and she gave the keynote at Grace Hopper Conference, as well as presented at Women in Animation, Fortune Most Powerful Women Next Gen Summit and Fast Co’s Impact Council.

Eric Darnell

Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer

Eric's career spans 25 years as a computer animation director, screenwriter, story artist, film director and executive producer. He is the fourth highest box office grossing writer and director of animated feature films. Eric was a director and screenwriter on all four films in the Madagascar franchise, which together have grossed nearly $3 billion at the box office. He was also executive producer on The Penguins of Madagascar. Previously, Eric directed DreamWorks Animation's very first animated feature film, Antz, which features the voices of Woody Allen, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Sharon Stone. Eric earned an undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of Colorado and a master's degree in experimental animation from The California Institute of the Arts.

Larry Cutler

Co-Founder & Chief Technical Officer

Larry brings deep technical leadership over the past 20 years in the area of animation creation and development. Larry currently serves on the Digital Imaging Technology Subcommittee for the Oscar Technical Achievement Awards. He was most recently the Vice President of Solutions at Metanautix, a big data analytics startup company (acquired by Microsoft). Prior to that, Larry spent 10 years at DreamWorks Animation where he served as Global Head of Character Technology and held several leadership positions in the areas of character development, animation workflow, rigging, and character simulation. Larry began his career at Pixar Animation Studios as a Technical Director on the films Monster’s Inc., Toy Story 2, and A Bug’s Life. Larry holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in computer science from Stanford University.

Kane Lee

Chief Content Officer

Kane is a decorated producer who's worked on both animated and live action projects across his career. Currently he is lead producer of 20th Century Fox’s feature film based on the Academy Award-nominated short, The Dam Keeper and is on producing teams for projects ranging from The School For Good and Evil at Universal Pictures to Frozen writer/director Jennifer Lee’s The Way Between to the international award-winning children’s series Spooksville. Previously, Kane was Vice President of Development and Production for Jane Startz Productions and worked on Horton Hears A Who!, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and Robots for Blue Sky Studios. He is an advisor in interactive media for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Kane holds an undergraduate degree in Symbolic Systems and a master’s degree in Sociology from Stanford University.

Osnat Shurer

Co-Chief Creative Officer

Osnat boasts an impressive animation career spanning various studios and creative roles. Prior to Baobab, she produced the Oscar-nominated films Moana and Raya and the Last Dragon, and served as Vice President of Development at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Osnat helped change the approach to cultural collaboration at the Walt Disney Company, creating local story trusts, consultants with whom she collaborated closely throughout the development, production and release of her films. Previously, Osnat served as the Executive Producer of the shorts group at Pixarwhere she produced a host of hit shorts, including the Oscar®-nominated films Lifted, One Man Band, and Boundin, and helped create several cutting-edge multi-media shows, including MoMA's impressive Pixar: 20 Years of Animation, which continues to travel the world. Prior to joining Pixar, she produced and directed in various mediums. Osnat grew up in many parts of the world and studied film at NYU.