‘The Glassworker’ Release Date Confirmed

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:

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)

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Evan Tiwari

Evan is a staff writer at The Mary Sue, contributing to multiple sections, including but not limited to movies, TV shows, gaming, and music. He brings in more than five years of experience in the content and media industry, both as a manager and a writer. Outside his working hours, you can either catch him at a soccer game or dish out hot takes on his Twitter account.