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Mano Animation Studios and Mandviwalla Entertainment have joined forces to bring The Glassworker, Pakistan’s first hand-drawn animated film, to cinemas this summer.

“We are extremely honoured to be partnering with the prestigious Madviwalla Entertainment as the official Pakistani theatrical distributor for our film. The Glassworker is finally set for release in theatres across Pakistan this summer,” read a statement by Mano Animation Studios on Instagram.

“The Glassworker is a work of art created by Usman Riaz and Mano Animation Studios and we are thrilled to be bringing it to Pakistani cinemas for audiences to enjoy in both Urdu and English. The film is a landmark title for Pakistani cinema; never before has the country produced a hand-drawn animated film of this quality,” said Nadeem Mandviwalla, the head of Mandviwalla Entertainment, in his statement.

The Glassworker is a coming-of-age story of two children from different walks of life, Vincent the glassworker and Alliz, a prodigious violinist who frequents his shop. The film revolves around the two characters as life grows to become more complicated and affects their relationship.

In 2022, the film was selected for the Work In Progress category at France’s Annecy International Animation Festival.

Inspired by Japanese animation film studio, Studio Ghibli, Usman followed suit and founded Mano Animation Studios in Karachi alongside Khizer Riaz and Mariam Riaz Paracha. He adopted Ghibli’s co-founder Hayao Miyazaki’s hand-drawn animation preference that’s revered by people all over the world for The Glassworker.

The Glassworker project involves young and talented artists with a median age of 27 years and 52 per cent of the team is female. It’s been described as a project full of surprises that encourages diversity in animation.