Filipino komiks creator Mervin Malonzo has bagged the Directing Award at this year’s Paris International Animation Film Festival (PIAFF) for the short film adaptation of Philippine horror-graphic novel, Ella Arcangel.
Malonzo won the top prize at the festival for his animated feature “Ella Arcangel: Oyayi sa Dilim” (Lullaby in the Dark), the first episode in an animated series based on the comic authored by prolific writer and artist Julius Villanueva.
Based on the graphic novel by Villanueva and animated by Malonzo, “Ella Arcangel” is a series of stories that follows a girl mambabarang (witch) of Barangay Masikap, a strange community where both humans and monsters struggle for survival in a small portion of the big city.
Malonzo, the author and artist behind the National Book Award-winning comic “Tabi Po”, shared the winners’ announcement and text from the PIAFF jury on his Facebook account.
“To tackle a trauma inside a family the horror genre is perfect. With a perfect mastery of mise en scène (Directing) that make us want to follow the story of those characters,” the PIAFF jury said about Malonzo’s first animated feature.
The Filipino artist earlier shared that a feature-length adaptation of “Ella Arcangel” is already in the works and will focus on the second book, “Awit ng Pangil at Kuko.”
The Paris International Animation Film Festival recognizes independent animated creations around the world and this year’s edition was held at the Studio des Ursulines in Paris from January 19 to 23, 2022.
Another Filipino horror graphic novel “Trese” by creators Budjette Tan and KaJo Baldisimo made waves worldwide after premiering on streaming platform Netflix with an all-Filipino voice cast.
LINK: all-Filipino voice cast
Nicole Scherzinger, Darren Criss, Manny Jacinto join “Trese” all-Filipino voice cast
SEND CHEERS in the comments below to Filipino komiks creator Mervin Malonzo for bagging the Directing Award at this year’s Paris International Animation Film Festival (PIAFF) and WATCH the short film adaptation of Philippine horror-graphic novel “Ella Arcangel” here.
TELL US your good news story tips by messaging GoodNewsPilipinas.com on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or e-mail editor@goodnewspilipinas.com and WATCH Good News Pilipinas TV YouTube for more Filipino Pride stories!
