At a JAFF Market panel, leading creators from Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea argued that Asian animation is shifting into a higher gear, driven by breakout hits like Visinema’s ‘Jumbo,’ Malaysia’s expanding teen-leaning storytelling and Korea’s growing global ambitions.
Across the board, panelists stressed that the region now needs scale, investment and better distribution pipelines to meet surging demand for quality animation.
Malaysian marketing firms have made it possible for the country to investigate narratives in animation. These include slice-of-life neighborhood tales in “Upin & Ipin” to stories like “Boboi Boy” and “Ejen Ali,” which tackle issues of grief and beyond.
In Malaysia, animation has evolved topics appropriate for viewers aged 13 and up, rather than just 12 and under. Ahmad Izham Omar, chief explorer at Malaysia’s Komet Production, described the upcoming animated comedy series “Kisah Bawah Tanah” as “something new, giving them a sense of entering adulthood.”
Despite the success of Visinema’s “Jumbo,” which has screened in more than 40 countries and is the highest grossing motion picture in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, Indonesia is a relative newcomer to the animation industry. “Not only is it new [in the film industry locally]. How can we make it sustainable?,” Visinema chief content officer Anggia Kharisma said at the panel.
“The ‘Jumbo’ production team consists of more than 420 individuals. It has created fresh opportunities for the future of Indonesian film,” she continued. “We’re taking fresh approaches to delivering products made for kids and families. As a mother, I worry about the material that Indonesian children are exposed to. We are not attempting to dictate to children how or what they should feel. However, create stories that help them to grow.”
At the moment, the content available digitally is widely scattered and unfiltered throughout Indonesia, she said. With so many different types of digital material available today, the way to provide inspiring and aspirational content is “building a rainbow bridge to connect us with stories that matter requires consciousness,” Kharisma said.
“‘Jumbo’ took nearly seven years to create,” Kharisma said. “We need the ecosystem [investors] and distribution partners to believe in us, in our stories, because the best business plan is in the quality itself.”
Over in South Korea, with a budget of more than $20 million, “Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarves” was a very ambitious production, said Suh Young-joo, CEO of the country’s Finecut.
“Korean animators have plenty of dilemmas in creating animation. It’s expanding to wider audiences more than ever now,” Suh added. “To know the market [globally] helps us understand what the domestic market can compete with as well.”