https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx82142l180o
'Ten years ago, musician Usman Riaz grabbed a pencil and started to sketch.
He might have hoped, but didn't know at the time, that it would start him on a
path to making history.
That initial drawing became
The Glassworker - Pakistan's first ever
hand-drawn animated feature film.
It follows the story of young Vincent and his father Tomas, who run a glass
workshop, and a war that threatens to upend their lives.
Vincent's relationship with violinist Alliz, the daughter of a military
colonel, begins to test the bond between father and son.
Usman tells
BBC Asian Network the characters ultimately come to learn "that
life is beautiful but fragile, like glass”.
He describes
The Glassworker as an "anti-war film" set in an ambiguous and
fantastical world that takes inspiration from his home country.
“I wanted to tackle issues and themes that would have been difficult to tackle
if it was based in Pakistan," he says.
The country doesn't have the thriving film industry of neighbouring India and
there is no government support or incentive for budding creatives like Usman.
So
The Glassworker was a passion project, he says.
“These 10 years for me have just been purely driven with passion and obsession.
“Since I was a child, I have loved hand-drawn animation and there's something
so magical about it.
"The beauty of the lines drawn and painted by the human hand always resonated
with me.”
Usman says he travelled the world looking for mentors and his search took him
to Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli.
The influence of the Oscar-winning artists behind classics such as
Spirited
Away and
Princess Mononoke can be seen in
The Glassworker's own style.
Usman says the industry veterans at Ghibli were also the ones who encouraged
him to start the production himself.
After raising $116,000 through a 2016 crowdfunding campaign he founded his own
studio, Mano Animations.
From there it's been a painstaking process, especially since full production
started in 2019.'
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
