MANILA, Philippines - The love for animation runs in the family of Nelson “Blog†Caliguia Jr. He grew up watching his father, award-winning animator Nelson Caliguia Sr., create stories through scribbles and sketches in the family-owned Living Room Animation Studios.
The elder Caliguia, an animation professor at the De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde, was one of the directors of the 37th Metro Manila Film Festival’s Best Full-Length Independent Film entitled “Pintakasi.â€
Blog’s mother Mina managed the animation studio. Together, the Caliguia couple created content for advertisements and subcontracted work from large animation studios as third-party support.
Fueled by his father’s passion for animation, Blog took the same path and became an animator himself. In 2012, he was named Outstanding Emerging Artist in Animation during Animahenasyon, an annual festival that showcases original content by Filipino animators and is organized by the Animation Council of the Philippines Inc. (ACPI).
Blog is quick to acknowledge the opportunities provided by ACPI through events like Animahenasyon for Filipino animators to showcase their talent.
ACPI is a non-stock, non-profit organization that advocates the development of original animation content and promotes the country’s animation industry locally and globally.
“Animahenasyon provides good opportunities for Filipino animators to show their work to a wider audience. It presents the best works of Filipino artists, which will make us known not only in our homeland but internationally as well,†says Blog.
In the entry entitled “Mutya,†Blog tackled environmental issues such as illegal logging and denudation of forests as a result of modernization. “Mutya,†an original animated short film by a Filipino animator, was later shown in countries such as Japan and Spain.