DreamWorks Animation directors Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado are ready to take audiences on a new adventure with “Forgotten Island,” hitting theaters on Sept. 25.
Annecy Animation Festival attendees will get a sneak peek at the film and hear from the directors about how the film came together.
Set in the 1990s, H.E.R. and Liza Soberano voice Jo and Raissa, two best friends who, after high school, are about to go their separate ways. As they celebrate their last night together, they stumble upon a magical portal — a gateway to stories they’ve heard about growing up. These are places from Filipino folklore, where shapeshifters, demons, witches, and monsters exist. As they encounter friends and foes, their friendship is put to the test as they seek to find their way back home. The film’s all-star voice cast also includes Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto, Dolly de Leon, Jo Koy, Ronny Chieng, and Lea Salonga.
The idea of anchoring the film in a universal theme about friendship was close to the directors’ hearts —they first met as story artists on “Kung Fu Panda 2.” This time, however, they switched things up and focused on female friendships, honoring the women in their lives.
Ahead of Annecy, Crawford told Variety, “So many times, young girls in movies and TV are portrayed as always talking about boys, or they’re princesses.” As the father of two teenage daughters, he observed how they interact and grow up with their friends, which is something he hadn’t often seen on screen. “I want my daughters to see themselves up on the screen, whether it’s in terms of culture, in terms of ethnicity, but also how they are as people.”
