Mano Animation Studios

Mano Animation Studios is a traditional hand-drawn animation studio founded in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2015. The studio develops original animated films and provides commercial animation and production services. Its creative approach draws on classical hand-drawn cinema, with an emphasis on frame-by-frame artistry and building local animation talent and production infrastructure.

Original filmmaking

The studio’s debut feature, The Glassworker (2024), is an anti-war romantic drama following young glassblower Vincent Oliver and violinist Alliz Amano as military conflict disrupts their lives. Set in a fictional waterfront town, the film combines the studio’s traditional animation practice with an original musical component.

The project developed into an international co-production involving Spanish animation producer Manuel Cristobal and executive producer Apoorva Bakshi. It premiered in the Contrechamp competition at the 2024 Annecy International Animated Film Festival and secured international sales representation through Charades. Pakistan selected the film as its official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards in 2025; it also qualified for consideration in the Best Animated Feature category.

The studio also produced The Making of The Glassworker, a twelve-episode documentary series documenting the feature’s production journey and the work behind its animation.

Commercial production

Alongside its original films, Mano Animation Studios undertakes animation assignments for external partners. Its work spans concept development, storyboarding, visual development, character design, background painting, animatics, animation, compositing and musical production. It also supplies specialist cleanup, in-betweening and ink-and-paint services within larger feature production pipelines.

Commercial work includes animation and brand redesign for EMI Pakistan, covering character design, storyboarding, full animation and animated logo development. The studio also contributed cleanup, in-betweening and ink-and-paint services to Valemon: The Polar Bear King.

Its production model combines a core creative team in Pakistan with international contributors and co-production relationships. This supports both the development of original intellectual property and contract work for film, entertainment, advertising and music-related media.