This year’s PIFF — which is running until Friday — features a special “Ani Asia! A Leap of Asian Feature Animation” section that features films from those smaller Asian markets.
“What these animated features provide is a kind of refreshment,” Kim said. “They can be distinguished from conventional animation from the West or Japan, and the characters and stories are aesthetically combined with each country’s cultural traditions.”
Kim says the region’s comic traditions have long inspired filmmakers, a point reinforced last month when Vanquish Motion Pictures of the US picked up the rights to DevaShard, the best-selling graphic novel series from Hong Kong.
DevaShard is based on ancient Sanskrit epics such as The Mahabharata and so far its two issues have sold out print runs of 50,000 in its home town.
Imagi is also at work on their next feature, an updated version of the Japanese anime series Gatchaman, which follows the exploits of a five-member team of superheroes and first appeared in the 1970s. The film is set for release towards the end of next year.
RSS