The Glassworker - Pakistan’s First Hand-Drawn Anime Film
Published: Feb 6, 2025
Pakistan is full of talented people, we have generous doctors, amazing engineers, hard-core journalists, lively musicians and much more. So let me introduce you to a talented 25-year-old Pakistani composer and film-maker Usman Riaz. Usman is working on Pakistan’s first hand-drawn anime film “The Glassworker”.
Usman Riaz is TED Senior Fellow and is currently studying at Berklee College of Music. He got the opportunity to play his guitar-percussion’s performance on TEDGlobal’s main stage with his idol Preston Reed.
Usman’s film “The Glassworker” is a story about a young boy named Vincent learning the art of glassblowing from his father.
As Vincent grows older, he falls in love with a young girl named Alliz, who regularly visits the glass shop.
Knowing that there is no hand-drawn animation industry for students in Pakistan, Usman opened his own studio the very first hand-drawn animation studio in Pakistan, Mano Animation Studios.
“We’re already hard at work on “The Glassworker.” And while the final film is years away, I hope that Mano Animation Studios can support a new generation of artists in Pakistan and beyond, creating a community for artists to collaborate on beautiful works of art for years to come.” said Riaz.