Showcasing its remarkable success by winning many achievements and awards, an animation movie created by the animation study program’s students at Universitas Dian Nuswantoro entitled “Si Warik” once again received government funding through the 2023 Kedaireka Matching Fund. The movie received a total of Rp. 2.000.000.000,00 in funding.

In her interview, the Head of the Animation Study Program at Udinus, Dr. Khafiizh Hastuti, S.Kom., M. Kom explained that this was the second time “Si Warik” received such funding. “Si Warik” was a projects involving several intern students and a few alumni. The first funding in 2022 successfully resulted in the production of 4 episodes of short animations and a mini-movie.

“The movie has received tons of praises, one of which was from the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nadiem Makarim. Additionally, the movie has also been screened in XXI Tentrem Mall and watched by the whole academic community of Udinus,” she said.

The second funding will be used to supply PC for supporting the render farm, film production, and intellectual property (IP) product development from students such as games, comics, digital stickers, and merchandise. “We are hoping for the funding to be capable of developing the ‘Si Warik’ animation and to serve as a facility for students to create many more outstanding works,” Khafiiz added.

Additionally, the Kedaireka Matching Fund was raised to facilitate AI development which formed a collaboration between the industry and the university. The program also served as a manifestation of support from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology to build a collaboration and strategic synergy between Insan Diki (college institution) and the industrial sector.

"This funding will be utilized to supply PC for render farming, movie producing, and IP products developing from our students including, games, comics, digital stickers, and merchandise,” she stated.

SI WARIK IS WELL-KNOWN INTERNATIONALLY

Not only did ‘Si Warik” serve as a teaching factory implementation with the animation industry through the foundation of D4NDIN Studio, but the animation movie created by the professors and students of the animation major also received many awards and became well known globally.

Nita Virena Nathania B.Des (Hons)., MBA, a producer and a lecturer from The Animation Study Program, mentioned that the animation movie made it as the Best Animation Finalist at the 2023 International SWIFF Film Festival in the United States. Approximately 13.688 movies from 120 different countries competed in the festival.

“We are immensely proud of ‘Si Warik’ for showcasing local wisdom as its main theme and gaining global recognition. Hopefully, this accomplishment would be utilized as a stepping stone for the Animation Study Program to keep doing their best in the animation industry,” Nita said.

Recently, an animated movie entitled “Si Warik The Movie: Ladang Terakhir” was screened at the 2023 Festival Cartoon Club International Film Festival of Animation Cinema, a prestigious movie festival from Italy. (Humas Udinus/Haris. Illustrasi: Prodi Animasi Udinus)