Pakistan’s first hand-drawn animated feature film finally has a release date, as Usman Riaz’s The Glassworker is set to release theatrically in Pakistan on July 26. The film will first premiere at the 2024 Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France on June 9.
The Mano Animation Studios film features anime-influenced animation in a lush new debut. Moya O’Shea has writing credits on the film, with Khizer Riaz and Manuel Cristobal acting as co-producers. The Glassworker‘s synopsis reads,
“Young Vincent and his father, Tomas, run the finest glass workshop in the country and find their lives upended by an impending war in which they want no part. The arrival in their town of an army colonel and his young, talented violinist daughter, Alliz, shakes their reality and tests the relationship between father and son.”
The list of voice actors is below:
| Character | voice actor (english) | voice actor (urdu) |
|---|---|---|
| Tomas Oliver | Art Malik | Khaled Anam |
| Vincent Oliver | Sacha Dhawan | Mooroo |
| Alliz Amano | Anjli Mohindra | Mariam Riaz Paracha |
| Colonel Amano | Tony Jaywardena | Ameed Riaz |
| Young Vincent | Teresa Gallagher | Mahum Moazzam |
| Nadia Amano | Mina Anwar | Faiza Kazi |
| Malik Khan | Sham Ali | Dino Ali |
| Penni | Maya Saroya | Ayesha Sheikh |
The movie was in development for quite some time. In 2016, the film’s Kickstarter campaign raised double its goal amount. The screenplay was completed in 2018 as Moya O’Shea took over from the director Riaz. The full-scale production began in January 2019.
While the film has predominantly Pakistani influence, The Glassworker also bears a cosmopolitan touch. Korean and Phillipino studios were involved in animation, while Lithuanian and Thai studios assisted in background artwork. Sound post-production was finalized in Japan, and English dialogues were recorded in the UK, making the film a global production.
The film is expected to be a trailblazer because Pakistan is not known for producing many animated movies, despite having a rich culture of cinema and music. Production company Manu Animation Studios has put quite a lot of effort into the project. This includes (but is not limited to) training artists on how to animate in traditional style and get the most minute details in line with the movie’s precise aesthetics.
While The Glassworker doesn’t yet have North American distribution, that will hopefully change soon.
(featured image: Manu Animation Studios)
