H.E.R., Bini, Lea Salonga and Katseye’s Sophia Laforteza are among the artists leading the soundtrack on Dreamworks Animation’s “Forgotten Island.”
The film, which is set to preview at next week’s Annecy Animation Film Festival, will open in theaters later this year. It follows H.E.R. and Liza Soberano as the voices of Jo and Raissa, two best friends who embark on one last adventure together. Their journey takes them into a night filled with shapeshifters, demons and witches, testing their friendship as they struggle to find their way out of a magical portal and return home.
The music in the film blends influences from the 1980s and ’90s, particularly drawing inspiration from Filipino and Filipino-American musical culture.
When Angela Leus, senior vice president of Film Music at Universal Pictures and a Filipina-American, first met with the film’s directors — Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado — they agreed that the music in the film had to be rooted in authenticity. Having grown up in the Philippines and surrounded by the music her parents loved, Leus saw an opportunity to pay homage to the artists who influenced her life while also raising awareness of Filipino music and artists from both older and newer generations.
