Asians in Animation

06/02/2026

Make your dreams come true with AIA this summer!

With Annecy and the New York Asian Film Festival on the horizon, join AIA to build your own stories and see how productions breathe life into animation behind the scenes.

Take a look at our monthly events:
Storyboard Session:
Tuesday, June 9 @ 7 PM PST | Discord
Explore original storyboards and scripts in Storyboard Session with host Pine Pham.

Portfolio, Art & Work Sessions:
Saturday, June 6 @ 5 PM PST | Discord
Saturday, June 20 @ 11 AM PST | Discord
Join our PAW sessions to work on your portfolio, explore art projects of your interest, and keep your creative goals accounted for.

Want to join AIA and give back to the community?

OPEN ROLES

Communications:
Ambassador Manager
Assoc. Director of Marketing

Membership:
Co-Director (NY)
Co-Director (India)

Partnerships:
Partnerships Assistant

Overhead:
Video Editor
Awards Production Manager

Learn more about our open roles at: https://bit.ly/AIAOpenRole (Link in bio)
For questions, reach out to: [email protected]

Special thanks to everyone who worked on this post:
• Contributors: Kellie Nguyen, Charis Moon
• Media Production: Lawrence Folsom, Kelly Dizon, Kaitlyn Chen, Shivani Devi Gobalakichenin
• Channel Management: Olivia Hall, Raphael Cardenas, Jade Tu
• Comms Leadership: Anna Folsom, Elisa Lau

05/30/2026

As we concluded our AIA En Plein Air Challenge, we want to share some memorable moments and incredible artwork our community created together. 🌿🎨✨

From plein air studies capturing different places to artists gathering in person at our NYC meetup, this challenge became a shared experience in observation, storytelling, and connection.

Want to learn more about the inspiration behind this challenge? Read Andrew Frastaci’s blog post and explore how his plein air journey through Little Tokyo reflects the power of on-site sketching. Blog: https://bit.ly/3RDeFoh

✨ Swipe through to see more artwork highlights, meetup moments, and more.✨

05/29/2026

Step into the world of folklore, mythology, and visual storytelling with this Community Voice feature: Munaum Bilal ✨

Munaum Bilal is a Pakistani storyboard artist whose work draws inspiration from Middle Eastern and South Asian culture, folklore, and mythology. A graduate of Marshall University’s Bachelor of Arts program, he has worked with Moonshot Animations as a Storyboard Artist and SOC Films as a Graphic Designer Intern.
Through his personal work, Munaum explores the power of storytelling to preserve culture, identity, and imagination across generations.

In this feature, he shares more about his creative journey, artistic inspirations, and why culturally rooted stories matter in animation today.

Discover more about Munaum’s creative journey at https://bit.ly/4eaTMtq

05/29/2026

🎬 Small Starts & Big Wins Panelist Spotlight: Lourchielle Hael — Director of SIGNAL PENDING

Known online as Chiise, Lourchielle is a 3rd-year multimedia arts student specializing in animation at the University of Makati's Institute of Arts and Design. They direct SIGNAL PENDING under Endscener Production — a film that began as a class project and was pitched and selected for SINE KABATAAN 2025.

Through their work, they bring local history and culture into stories of romance and magic — a perspective Filipino indie animation needs more of.

At Small Starts & Big Wins, Lourchielle will share how a class assignment became a real production, how to pitch as an undergrad, and how to root your storytelling in Filipino culture without flattening it.

📅 Saturday, May 30 · 10:00 AM PHT on Zoom
👉 Register: https://AIA_indie_filipino_directors.eventbrite.com

05/28/2026

🎬 Small Starts & Big Wins Panelist Spotlight: Sofia Bianca Chua — Co-Director of Unravelled

Unravelled began as a group thesis at iACADEMY's VISION program and has grown into one of the most decorated Filipino student animations of the year:

🏆 Grand Prize, Student Division — Animahenasyon 2025 (the Philippines' largest animation festival)

🏆 Best International Short Film — Prisma Q***r Film Festival (Ireland)

At Small Starts & Big Wins, Sofia will share how her team turned a school project into international festival material, the realities of co-directing, and how to find your film's audience beyond the classroom.

📅 Saturday, May 30 · 10:00 AM PHT on Zoom
👉 Register: https://AIA_indie_filipino_directors.eventbrite.com

05/27/2026

🎬 Small Starts & Big Wins Panelist Spotlight: Leon Lopez — Producer & Co-Director of Wheel Love

Leon is a Quezon City–based Creative Project Manager whose work spans Megan Thee Stallion's animated documentary and the award-winning short film Time Flies. He's also a frequent workshop facilitator and pitching event adjudicator at CIIT Lightbox, with a clear passion for helping young Filipinos build their own IP.

Wheel Love is his current indie animation project — a Filipino-led collaboration with an international team.
At Small Starts & Big Wins, Leon will share how to keep a cross-border animation team running, what producers wish first-time directors knew, and how to think about your project as IP from day one.

📅 Saturday, May 30 · 10:00 AM PHT on Zoom
👉 Register: https://AIA_indie_filipino_directors.eventbrite.com

05/26/2026

🎬 Small Starts & Big Wins Panelist Spotlight: Jazmine Gin R. Pateña — Co-Director of RUNO!

Jazmine hails from a humble village in Laguna and is currently a BS Animation major at iACADEMY, where she's a mentee of the VISION Creative Unit. RUNO!, her first animated short film with co-director Lysa Catolico, was a semi-finalist at SIKAP's SAPLING Pitch Lab and won a grant at QCShorts 2025. She's brought the film to indie animation showcases and film festivals across Metro Manila.

At Small Starts & Big Wins, Jazmine will share what the festival circuit actually looks like from a student-director's POV — and how to pitch a film when you're still building your name.

📅 Saturday, May 30 · 10:00 AM PHT on Zoom
👉 Register: https:/AIA_indie_filipino_directors.eventbrite.com

05/23/2026

This week marks the 1-year launch anniversary of TEA LEAVES LAST, Asians in Animation’s first TV Pilot Pre-Production Program (4P)! TEA LEAVES LAST tells a multicultural Asian fantasy story about culture, friendship, and tradition. Created by Saira Umar (), and made by a crew of over 100, including co-writer Stephanie Sim, director Lynn Park and producer Alice Jiang, we celebrate the 4P Immersive Lab 2025 volunteers whose careers were elevated by the program, and the over 26,000 viewers who resonated with their story. Please enjoy this commemorative animation of the pilot protagonist Mya, made by artist and Community Voice, Henry Nguyen (), inspired by the animatic!

Relive the magic on the official Asians in Animation YouTube channel (Link in Bio)!

05/22/2026

Good coffee, great company, and invaluable industry insights. ☕✨

Our members had incredible time at our recent LA coffee meetup at Kona Loa Coffee! They had the unique opportunity to sit down for personal conversations with the shop’s owners, who also happen to be talented Visual Development Artists, Jesse Pak and Trilina Mai. 🎨👋

Jesse and Trilina graciously shared their personal journeys into the animation industry, offering firsthand wisdom on navigating the creative path while building community spaces. Thank you to everyone who came out, ordered a delicious beverage, and brought such fruitful conversations to the table!

Missed this one? Don't worry, we can't wait to see you at the next meetup!

05/22/2026

Want to make your own animated short film but don't know where to start?

Join AIA Philippines on Saturday, May 30 for Small Starts & Big Wins — a virtual panel discussion with four rising Filipino indie animation directors who turned ideas into finished films, ranging from university thesis projects to grant winners and even cross-border collaborations.

🎬 Meet your panelists:
• Jazmine Gin R. Pateña — Co-Director of RUNO!, Semi-finalist at SIKAP's SAPLING Pitch Lab and QCShorts 2025 Grant Winner
• Leon Lopez — Producer/Co-Director of Wheel Love, with credits on Megan Thee Stallion's animated documentary and the award-winning Time Flies
• Sofia Bianca Chua — Co-Director of Unravelled, Animahenasyon 2025 Student Grand Prize winner and Best International Short at Prisma Q***r Film Festival (Ireland)
• Lourchielle Hael — Director of Signal Pending, Selected for SINE KABATAAN 2025
They'll walk us through pitching, production, festival submissions, and the resources Filipino creators can tap to bring their work to life.

📅 Saturday, May 30, 2026
🕙 10:00 AM PHT (GMT+8) // Friday, May 29, 7:00 PM PT
📍 Free virtual event on Zoom
👉 Register: https://AIA_indie_filipino_directors.eventbrite.com

Perfect for animation students, pre-professionals, and anyone curious about the indie animation scene in the Philippines.

Want to make your own animated short film but don’t know where to start?