PETALING JAYA, August 26 — Disney has entrusted Malaysian-born screenwriter Adele Lim to work her magic on its new animated film feature Raya and The Lost Dragon to keep true to the South-east Asian theme

After her initial foray into big screen productions serving as co-screenwriter of last year’s hit romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, the LA-based screenwriter was on stage at Saturday’s Walt Disney Studios panel at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, California to introduce the voice cast for Raya.

The epic fantasy adventure with South-east Asian themes is set in a realm called Kumandra, described as "a reimagined earth inhabited by an ancient civilisation” where five clans form the land of the dragon, with the title character Raya determined to find the last dragon.

Scheduled for release on November 5, 2020, it will star Degrassi’s Cassandra Steele as Raya, and Awkwafina from Crazy Rich Asians and the upcoming Shang-Chi and live-action of Little Mermaid as Sisu, the last dragon.

The film will be directed by Paul Briggs and Dean Wellins, who previously worked on Big Hero 6 and Frozen for Disney Animation and produced Moana’s Osnat Shurer.

Lim, a former SMK Sri Aman student was thrilled to be a part of the project, and took to Instagram to share her feelings of excitement on the film that she has been working on for the past year — which will finally be a Disney feature film that Malaysians can take pride in.

Keeping it visually authentic will be Thai storyboard artist, Fawn Veerasunthorn, who takes on her first role as lead storyboard artist, having previously contributed her talents to other Disney films like Frozen and Zootopia.