KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 — Malaysian animator and California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) alumnus Lee Yon Hui received an international nod as the prestigious 43rd annual Annie Awards announced its nominations on Wednesday.
Lee’s Japanese-language graduation film Dodoba was one of the eight animated shorts nominated in the Best Student Film category of the Los Angeles-based award ceremony that honours the best in the industry.
“I was definitely psyched when I heard the news and it’s been a very humbling day for me. I honestly don’t really know what to expect from here on.” Lee told Malay Mail Online.
“It’s been a crazy journey getting this film done and I’m just so grateful to have walked this journey with my amazing team members.”
Dodoba takes place in a village inhabited by anthropomorphic frogs, where a toad is being accused of murdering one of its villagers.
The plot takes a turn as the toad is sentenced to “death by boiling” and pleads for a fair trial.
Lee said the concept for Dodoba was the amalgamation of his childhood interests in Japanese culture, the supernatural, and frogs.
“The main reason behind my choice of frogs in Dodoba, though, is so that I can tie it in with the idea of metamorphosis. I wanted to play off the old saying of ‘never judge a book by its cover’ with the metamorphosis of a frog’s life cycle,” he said.
“A tadpole might seem tiny and incapable at first sight but once they grow out their limbs they’re much more capable of hunting and surviving.”
The acknowledgment of his talent, however, should not come as a surprise, as Lee has an impressive background.
Prior to studying in CalArts, Lee was a matchmove artist in the Malaysian branch of the now-defunct Hollywood visual effects studio Rhythm & Hues, which stepped into the local spotlight for its involvement in Academy Award-winning film Life of Pi.
While completing his course in California, he had also served as an intern at Sony Pictures Imageworks, and lived out the wet dream of many an animator by serving as story intern at Pixar.
The 27-year-old graduated from CalArts last May and is currently based in the state of Connecticut working as a story artist at Blue Sky Studio, the animation studio that produced the Ice Age franchise, Rio, and more recently, The Peanuts Movie.
The Annie Awards is an annual event presented by ASIFA-Hollywood, the Los Angeles branch member of the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA), and is considered among the top international honours for animators.
The 43rd annual Annie Award ceremony is set to take place on February 6, 2016, at Royce Hall, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
For more of Lee’s art, follow him on Instagram under the handle @yonhuilee or visit his Tumblr page here.
