Animation1 is proud to be a partner in the making of the epic film “Heneral Luna“, acclaimed by critics as “the best Filipino movie in years”.

Antonio Luna is one of the Philippines’ major historical heroes, leading the fight for independence from the Americans after his return in 1898 from exile in Spain. This critically acclaimed film poses the question for all Filipinos, “How did Luna’s assassination really occur?” But there are even stronger questions for a global audience, as the film is a graphic representation of how we are sometimes our own worst enemies. Indeed, Heneral Luna recognizes that the failure of all factions to unite behind the cause for independence as the most difficult challenge of their time, lamenting that “We have an enemy bigger than the Americans… (the enemy is) ourselves”.

Heneral Luna is the third recent historical film by executive producer Fernando Ortigas and co-producer and screenwriter Edward Rocha. The film follows in the footsteps of other epic historical dramas such as Cinemalaya award winner “K’na the Dreamweaver” (with VFX by Animation1), “Bonifacio”, and now “Heneral Luna” (with closing VFX by Animation1). This series of films embodies the vision of Mr. Rocha to bring to the public films of substance and meaning, using film as a media to challenge our thinking and perceptions of life and history.

In the end, Heneral Luna is a tragic story, and poses the question of “what could have been?” had history taken a different course. But in a more significant way, the film reaches across the years with a deeper question, when it asserts that the real enemy is ourselves..

Animation1 is proud to have contributed VFX to the closing sequences of the film. This follows in the footsteps of our VFX work for K’na the Dreamweaver for Mr. Ortigas and Mr. Rocha, executive producers of the film. Animation1 has a highly capable staff of VFX artists with years of experience in the art of bringing a filmmaker’s vision to life. Our work is global in nature, including VFX work for productions in the US as well as the Philippines.

See all of our work here or see Animation1’s VFX demo reel here: