Taiwan TV series “Food Man” won the best animation prize June 26 in the latest edition of the U.S. Southern Shorts Awards.
Released by New Taipei City-based Windmill Group, the 52-episode show stars superheroes in the form of anthropomorphic traditional foods such as steamed buns and sticky rice dumplings. The characters bring children up to speed on important topics like environmental protection, food safety or science in each 11-minute episode.
The series targeting children under 6 was lauded by the SSA judges for its outstanding animation, strong writing and educational and entertainment value. The first episode of the show will be screened Aug. 4 at the award festival in Atlanta in the U.S. state of Georgia.
According to Windmill, the food superheroes first gained a following after appearing in the company’s print publications some five years ago. Based on the strong interest in the characters, the firm worked to bring them to the small screen in collaboration with Taipei City-based Yu-Sheng Animation Studio and Chen Chih-lung, a screenwriter and assistant professor of multimedia digital content at Da-Yeh University in central Taiwan’s Changhua County.
Also in June, “Food Man” was nominated for best animation at Italy’s monthly Oniros Film Awards. The series premiered June 20 on iQiyi, a Beijing-based online video platform, and has since accumulated more than 1.46 million views. (CPY-E)
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