You can see Studio Ghibli’s influence throughout the animation industry, from Japan to Korea to Hollywood. Now, Pakistan is trying to move up in the world of animation, and they’re doing it with inspiration from Studio Ghibli. With “The Glassworker”, a group of Pakistani animators are taking influences from Japanese animation and try to create a beautiful film.

From the trailer alone, one could see the obvious Ghibli influence, huh? Pakistani artist and director, Usman Riaz, directs this new animated film with Mano Animation Studios, which he also founded. He also admits that he “first fell in love with Studio Ghibli movies from a very young age”. Now, he’s fulfilling his animation dreams with this beautiful new work.

The film follows a beautiful coming-of-age love story between Vincent, the glassmaker’s son, and Alliz, a young violin prodigy. The film looks beautiful with great hand-made animation, as well as the obvious Ghibli-inspired techniques. However, Riaz had to raise US$116,000 for the film on Kickstarter back in 2016. But the director held firm in his goal, and is managing to complete this film. He said that he’s “fully prepared to do whatever it takes to making our dream of making hand-drawn animation a reality in Pakistan”.

This 80-minute film features the characters speaking in Urdu, which is of course, Pakistan’s national language. This film would also serve as a first for the country, which doesn’t have much of a reputation in animation.

source: Sora News 24