After some months in the dark Disney has officially announced Star Wars Visions Volume 2 is coming out on May 4th,2023. The names of the studios involved have also been released.
Star Wars Visions made something that many of us never imagined possible; combining anime and Star Wars with crazy concepts and styles that only this type of media would make possible. The idea was basically to let 9 leading Japanese anime studios show how they envisioned Star Wars in their very own way.
For Volume 2, there are going to be some changes, the nine shorts are in charge of selected studios from all around the world. Each studio will pour their ideas combined with their cultural background to make a Star Wars product that is completely brand new.
Here’s the list of episodes and the respective studios in charge.
El Guiri (Spain)
El Guiri Studios are specialized in pre-production for high-end CG animation. The founder and leading creative by Rodrigo Blaas, award-winning animator and director. Rodrigo has worked on projects like “Finding Nemo”, “The Incredibles”, “Ratatouille”, “Wall-E”, “La Luna”, and the award-winning series “Trollhunters”.
El Guiri Studios are in charge of the episode named “Sith”.
Cartoon Saloon (Ireland)
Cartoon Saloon is a five-time Academy Award, Emmy, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nominated animation studio. They produce shorts, feature films, and even TV series. Some of their work includes “My Father’s Dragon”, “The Breadwinner”, “Song of the Sea” and “Wolfwalkers”.
Paul Young, one of the studio founders is going to be in charge of directing the episode “Screecher’s Reach”.
Punkrobot (Chile)
Punkrobot is a studio that produces projects for children’s television. Some of their shows include “The Carnival of the Animals”, “Children’s Day”, “Flipos” and the Oscar nominated short “Bear Story”.
Punkrobots founder Gabriel Osorio will be the director for the episode “In the Stars”.
Aardman (United Kingdom)
Aardman has been in the animation business for more than 40 years. They are known for using stop-motion and clay animation in their products that include Feature Films, Series, and Shorts. The most well-known are “Wallace & Gromit”, “Chicken Run” and “Shaun the Sheep”.
The award-winning director Magdalena Osinska is going to direct “I Am Yout Mother”.
Studio Mir (South Korea)
This South Korean-based studio has been around since 2010. The beautiful and detailed animation they make guarantees that whatever they’re working on is going to be a quality product. Some of their past projects include Dota: Dragon’s Blood, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, and Avatar: The Legend of Korra.
Hyeong Geun Park is the director of “Journey to the Dark Head”.
Studio La Cachette (France)
Studio La Cachette is an Emmy Award-winning animation studio that was founded in 2014. One of its founders is Julien Chheng, an animator that worked on animated features “Ernst and Celestine”, “The Rabbi’s Cat”. He also served as executive producer of Genndy Tartatovsky’s “Primal”.
Chheng is in charge of the episode “The Spy Dancer”.
88 Pictures (India)
88 Pictures is an animation studio founded by Ishan Shukla. Shukla started as a CG artist and has worked on many different projects like TV commercials, series, and even music videos. In 2016 his animated short “Schirkoa” won multiple awards at different international festivals.
Ishan Shukla will provide his directing experience in the episode “The Bandits of Golak”
D’art Shtajio (Japan) and Lucasfilm Ltd. (United States)
D’art Shtajio is a studio that has been involved with projects like “Castlevania”, “One Piece”, “Overlord” and “Sound & Fury” to name a few. They love to use traditional anime art style and combine it with Eastern and Western themes.
Lucasfilm needs no introduction, they’re responsible for fan-favorite series like “The Clone Wars” and “The Mandalorian”.
LeAndre Thomas and Justin Ridge will work together to produce and direct “The Pit”. Between the two of them, they have worked on massive projects like Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Mandalorian, Star Wars Tales of the Jedi, Star Wars Rebels, The Clone Wars, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Triggerfish (South Africa)
Triggerfish Animation Studios are known for heavily involving African culture in their work. Some of the films they have produced include “Khumba”, “Stick Man” and “Adventures in Zambezia”.
Nadia Darries and Daniel Clarke will write and direct the episode “Aau’s Song”.
As you might have seen, there’s a wide variation of styles; child-oriented, visually detailed, dark-themed, and even more of a goofy style. I’m super excited to see how these studios combine their styles with a Star Wars story.
The cherry on top is the fact that Star Wars Visions Volume 2 is releasing on May 4th. What do you expect to see in the upcoming shorts? Have you seen Star Wars Visions Volume 1 already? If not, that’s a good time to do it.
