23-year-old animator Zachary John Conlu’s short film “Tella” recently bagged back to back awards at the
Toronto Indie Shorts and the Reale Film Festival.
The 12 minute animated film was recently honored with the Best Composer award at the Toronto Indie Shorts Festival and was adjudged the monthly winner for Best Soundtrack at the Reale Film Festival.
Conlu, an AB Animation graduate from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, worked on his passion project on and off for two years starting in 2018. He completed his film last year together with two amazing partners. While Conlu took on the role as creator and animator, Pauline Jan Villanueva created the musical score, and Anthony Tobias helmed the short film’s sound design.
“Tella was a passion project. I worked on it on and off for two years, since I was also a freelance animator. The budget was really small and came from my own pocket. No other outside source,” he said in an interview.
Conlu said that he originally wanted to work on a bigger story, but chose to scale down on the focus of the project because of manpower and budget limitations.
“Tella” is the story about a lost girl and a star that falls from the sky. The two discover the power of kindness and friendship as the girl helps the star return to the night sky.
To watch the film, check out this post from Zachary John Conlu.