It’s been years since we last saw a full-length Filipino animation and that time we all reacted that it is not at par yet with American Cartoons, Japanese Anime, and the general Animation industry in the world. BUT, if we kept an open-mind back then, Filipino Animation releases (full-length or otherwise) becomes better and better for every release.
And you know what? This year we will be able to see the (as gamers say it) “bestest” of Filipino Animation has to offer. Want to see the trailers? More about it after the jump!
Late last year, me and my girlfriend Sherlene saw a trailer of a new Filipino Animation, which I’d rather call “Filipino Anime” - Urduja, it is so good we were shocked its completely Filipino made, we thought it was a dubbed version of another country’s legend but it is about the Philippines!
I’ve completely forgotten about it until today. While following referred links from various blogs I am running or helping in maintaining, I came across Filipina Soul’s entry about Urduja, and guess what? There’s another purely Filipino Anime Film coming this year.
But first, some details about “Urduja". Urduja is a warrior-princess recognized as a heroine in Pangasinan, the story is (obviously) about her. One might easily think about “Mulan” or “Pocahontas” for this type of story, but we must remember, many countries have “heroine” legends (in this regard, we can not claim “we copied Mulan or Pocahontas"), and is produced by APT Entertainment and Isang Seventoon at Imaginary Friends production. As was shown from the movie trailer, the voices are:
Eddie Garcia for Lakanpati
Johnny Delgado for Wang
Allan K for Tarsir
Michael V for Kukut
Cesar Montano for Lim Hang
Regine Velasquez for Princess Urduja
Together with Jay Manalo and Ruby Rodriguez and music by Mon Faustino and Ogie Alcasid. Urduja is in the Filipino language. And hopefully they will release this in other countries either dubbed or subtitled.
The trailer:
The second film? DAYO, the Philippines 1st All-Digital full-length animated film produced by CuttingEdge Production and directed by Robert Quilao. DAYO will hit the big screens this December 2008 (best Christmas Gift for every Filipino). Here’s the trailer of DAYO:
I do hope and pray that this will finally keep the flame going and get the Philippines to be known and well respected in the field of original animation films. And I am glad that Filipino writers (and directors for that matter) are starting to break away from our very old fictions and styles. The Philippines is doing well after all. I predict that this will become a healthy industry for the Philippines, opening thousands of job for the Filipinos.
Pinoys are great artists and animators, we’ve been hired for decades to create Japanese Anime, and American Cartoons and Animations. But now they are staying, staying to create for us and to let our country benefit from this great Filipino talent. Keep it up, we are all here to support you and the Filipino Anime Industry!!
Watch out for Urduja and DAYO in theaters near you!!
Official Website:
DAYO Movie - very professional movie site
* There’s no website for Urduja movie.
Now for the pessimists out there, here’s one comment from a half-Filipino:
siegfried: The philippines is just starting and its not easy to come up with a style these days when everything is used already. dont get me wrong, filipinos have talent with the arts and their talent can rival those of the japanese and americans. im proud to be half filipino cuz of that ^_~
Be optimistic. Hope for the best. Be active!
Thanks to Filipina Soul for blogging it, reminded me when we first saw the trailer in the cinemas last year.
Sources:
“Urduja": Tagalog Full-length Animated Film
“Dayo": All-digital Tagalog Animated Film
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