Disney Legend Ming-Na Wen to Narrate New Documentary Celebrating 2D Animation "Pencils Vs. Pixels" Debuting At Annecy Next Week

Star of the Walt Disney Animation Studios classic, Mulan, Disney Legend Ming-Na Wen, will be narrating a new documentary focused on the art of 2D Animation that is set to debut at this year’s Annecy festival, Pencils Vs. Pixels.

What’s Happening:

Set to debut at this year’s Annecy International Animation Festival which begins in just a few days, Pencils Vs. Pixels is a new documentary that serves as an exhilarating celebration of 2D hand-drawn animation and an exploration of how the Disney renaissance of the late 1980s and early 1990s led to an animation boom that was quickly upended by the computer animation revolution that followed. This incredibly complex and controversial industry change is discussed in depth, alongside the resurgence of hand-drawn animation with recent films like Disenchanted, Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Bob’s Burger Movie and beloved multi-Oscar nominee Flee.
The new film will be narrated by Ming-Na Wen, who is no stranger to voice over roles, providing the voice of Mulan in the 1998 Walt Disney Animation Studios film of the same name, and many reprisals of the character since. Ming-Na will appear in Pencils Vs. Pixels in animated form once again, as seen in an image from the film provided below.

The new film, a collaboration between Minutehand Pictures and Hideout Pictures, is produced by veteran Disney Animator Tom Bancroft, who contributed to films like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Mulan, and more. Together with fellow producer Bay Dariz and executive produced by Shannon Houchins, Noor Ahmed, and Christopher Joe, and directed by Bay Dariz (Hypochondriac) and Phil Earnest, the film has already been acquired by Strike Back Studios, who plan to release the film later this year.

The documentary features interviews with many players in the world of Animation, including (but not limited to):
- Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc)
- Leonard Maltin
- John Musker (The Little Mermaid)
- Tony Bancroft (Mulan)
- Jorge R. Gutiérrez (The Book of Life)
- Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy)
- Glen Keane (Beauty and the Beast)
- Tina Price (Hercules)
- Lorna Cook (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron)
- Kevin Smith (Clerks: The Animated Series)
The project will make its world premiere at the acclaimed Annecy International Animation Film Festival in their Annecy Classics Program in France on June 15th, with Strike Back Studios releasing the film on all TVOD/Digital platforms later this fall.

What They’re Saying:

Tom Bancroft: “Because of my 34 years in the animation industry, mostly as a Disney animator, I still meet people that ask me: ‘What ever happened to 2D animation- why did it go away?‘ ‘Pencils Vs Pixels finally answers that question. Through passionate stories by artisans that made the films that people still treasure today, this film will give viewers the never-before-told answers of what happened to the hand-drawn artistry that is 2D animation.”