To Telling Stories: Animahenasyon 2021
Animahenasyon, the Philippine Animation Festival, has been something we look forward to at Fizzbuzz every year. The recently concluded celebration of its 15th year was no different despite being held virtually due to the pandemic. From November 12 to 14, the festival featured a conference, film screenings, panel discussions, and a competition to cultivate and showcase the talent of Filipino animators.
“Let’s Tell A Story” was this year’s theme, which allowed participants to focus on showcasing stories behind the scenes of animated projects, TV series, and movies as well as the different people involved in creating them. From animators to writers to voice actors, each has a hand in telling a story in the collaborative medium that is animation.
An amazing roster of guest speakers who have worked for companies such as DC Comics, Atomic Cartoons, Disney, Nickelodeon, and TED-Ed shared their experiences and hard-won lessons from the industry. The talks were a much-needed inspiration—despite being one of the largest contributors to the international animation industry for years, with many Filipinos serving as outsourced workers for Disney, Marvel, Cartoon Network, and even Japanese animation studios, the Philippines has been a largely invisible workforce. It’s about time we are given agency to tell our own stories.
Animahenasyon 2021: The Philippine Animation Festival culminated in the awarding of the top 5 out of 20 finalists for its Anikompetisyon Creative Awards. We’re incredibly honored to be included in the list. We hope that next year, we’ll get to tell even better stories.
