Malaysian “Pixar” becoming a reality?

WHILE channel surfing the TV last night, I came across this preview of a soon-to-be-shown three-dimensional (3D) animated movie, called Geng The Movie with Upin & Ipin on Channel 4 Astro.

It's about an adventurous journey of a group of Kampung kids into the world mystery.
At first I didn't believe that this is a local production based on the quality of the movie, mmmm.... it's almost near Hollywood's 3D films like Nemo, Cars, The Incredible, (I'm just exaggerating here), but the truth is the international quality is there, and I was just watching it from my normal 29-inch TV.

What amazed me is that the characters in the movie look alive and with emotions – the facial expressions, the movements, voice over, and the surroundings in the film look perfect too.
The production house that produces the movie is Les' Copaque or some would pronounce it Last Copac (which in Bahasa Pasar means last minute).

I've heard about this company a couple of years ago when covering ICT-related events especially those related to Multimedia Development Corporation (MdeC), but never had the chance to meet up with the people behind it.

I know that MDeC has been nurturing local technoprenuers (that is IT entrepreneurs) to enhance the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiative and has been giving out grants and technology assistance to those who are interested to pursue business in the ICT area, and generating 3D content is one of the focus areas.

At first I thought some famous local film producers may have been involved in the making of this animated movie, but I was wrong.

Les' Copaque was made up of energetic youngsters, fresh graduates and even school kids that apparently have lots of talent.

The movie is said to have cost RM4 million to produce, but based on the quality, it's way cheaper than any Hollywood's animated 3D films.

Since producing such movie needs really powerful computers, it's good to know that Mimos (the country's R&D arm) has lend its hand to Les' Copaque by allowing the production house to use its Grid Computing facilities – which is a network of really powerful computers.

Kudos to Les' Copaque and all the talents behind it, MDeC, MOSTI, Mimos and others for making this first truly Malaysian 3D animated film a reality.

Who knows this film may be making its way to the Cannes Film Festival and put Malaysia in the spotlight in the international film arena.

Geng The Movie will start screening from Feb 12, 2008. Go watch it to support our first truly animated 3D film. I'm taking the whole family there.