Teaser Time! Usman Riaz's THE GLASSWORKER From Pakistan's First Animation Studio

Of all the thousands of movies I've seen in my life, I can say that this is the first time I've ever seen Pakistani animation, and I'm happy to say that it looks pretty damn solid. I've tried to keep my ear to the ground as much as possible, though it's only a couple of times a year that I get an opportunity to check out something new from the country. This morning, however, I came across an image from a brand new Urdu-language animated feature titled The Glassworker.

The Glassworker is the first feature from musician/director Usman Riaz and Pakistan's first hand-drawn animation studio, Mano Animation Studios. The film was crowd-funded earlier this year and the team is shooting for a release in 2017. The animation certainly owes a huge debt to the traditional anime style of Japan, landing somewhere in between the dreamy visuals of Makoto Shinkai and the romantic nostalgia of Miyazaki's Ghibli features, but hopefully as the film gets a bit more fleshed out it will begin to find its own voice.

In any case, it's always exciting when a new player enters the film industry, and I'm excited to see what Pakistani animation will have to offer. The trailer is gorgeous, and the animation looks very solid to me. Check out the synopsis and trailer below and let us know what you think: