An animated version of the acclaimed The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye might be coming to a screen near you.

An animated adaptation of the graphic novel won the first Animation Du Monde workshop in Asia.

The workshop was held in the Philippines, at the Alliance Francaise de Manille.

It involved six animation producers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Each team was given the opportunity to undergo one-on-one and group sessions on storyboarding, storytelling, production, financing and pitching.

As winners of the workshop, this means that the adaptation of Charlie Chan will be brought to the Annecy International Animation Film Market (MIFA), along with 10 other projects that have also been awarded such an opportunity.

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival and the MIFA is considered one of the biggest animation film events in the world.

It is held annually at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France.

From there, the work will be given a platform to share the project concept beyond the region, and find potential collaborators and distributors.

The team behind it

The Singapore team behind the animated adaption include project producer Fran Borgia, and film-maker Jerrold Chong.

They have worked closely with Liew on the project, and will continue to do so.

Speaking to Mothership.sg, Borgia feels that a significant creative process and freedom, and trust from Liew helped them emerge as winners:

Although we are still in an early stage, there is a significant creative process put in place to develop the initial adaptation ideas, so I believe that has helped the project and the team to be picked up as the winners in this workshop. Sonny Liew has also been instrumental as he has given us the freedom and trust we need to develop the best possible adaptation.

Indeed, Liew himself also shared with Mothership.sg that he has given the team the creative freedom to tell the story of his graphic novel in their own unique way:

I see film adaptations as things in themselves, reinterpretations that should try to use the strengths of the film medium... so happy to let Fran and Jerrold and other film makers help shape it since they know the medium better. The hope is that any film adapt will stay true to the spirit of the book while being interesting narratively and formally in its own way.

Chong added that the depth and universal themes explored within the graphic novel itself lent itself to the animation, and the medium also offered a unique storytelling approach.

I feel it goes back to the compelling and universal story Sonny has envisioned in his graphic novel. It has an immense depth and addressed many themes that will resonate with both a local and global audience. The adaptation also offers a unique approach to storytelling, with a variety of mini-stories and styles that makes it very exciting to explore in animation.

As it's still very much in the early stages of development, there are no finalised visuals just yet, but we can expect some exciting developments in time to come.

Borgia said that team will need to "create something new with the material we have to make the film work on its own medium".

Borgia also mentioned that there are talks to bring the film here locally.

"Singapore is our home and as such we want the film to be seen and appreciated here," he said.

If all goes well, production of the animated film is slated to begin in 2021.

Previously on Charlie Chan...

The book, which was published in 2015, received much critical acclaim and received international attention, most notably as a result of the The National Art Council revoking the S$8,000 publication grant after the book was launched.

The graphic novel involved 60-odd years of local history through comics interspersed with biographical details, and also include founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and his political rival Lim Chin Siong.

On June 2, 2015, following several media queries on the decision to revoke the grant, Senior Director of the NAC’s literary arts sector Khor Kok Wah said:

“The retelling of Singapore’s history in the work potentially undermines the authority or legitimacy of the government and its public institutions, and thus breaches our funding guidelines. The council’s funding guidelines are published online and well known among the arts community.”

The Streisand effect kicked into full force, and the book sold out its first print run of 1,000 copies.

Top image adapted via Epigram Books and Film Development Council of The Philippines