Garuda: Dare to Dream Bows at Tokyo Gap-Financing Market
Indonesia’s film industry is taking a new trajectory with the animated feature Garuda: Dare to Dream, which maker Shanty Harmayn is presenting at the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market. This marks the Jakarta-based producer’s first foray into feature animation, ahead of a planned early 2026 theatrical release. The project blends adventure, drama, humor, and sports action, centered on a young athlete’s quest to soar beyond limitations.
From Dream to Screen: The Concept and Its Core Message
The story follows 13-year-old Putra, who lives with asthma and dreams of playing for Indonesia’s national soccer team. After facing ridicule at the Sanca Perkasa Soccer School trials, he encounters a mystical jersey from Gaga, a glowing Garuda spirit, which unlocks extraordinary speed, power, and skill. The film’s genre-blending approach weaves together coming-of-age drama with high-energy sports sequences, while delivering humor and universal themes of courage, perseverance, and the belief that dreams can become reality with the right support.
Creative Leadership and Vision
Director Ronny Gani, whose background includes animation work on Marvel productions, emphasizes a personal resonance with the project. “The story of finding the courage to take that first step toward a dream directly mirrors my own experience of facing significant limitations in access and social challenges when I chose to pursue a career as a professional animator,” he explains. Harmayn adds that the project’s development has been meticulous, noting the deliberate pacing required to achieve a strong narrative while delivering top-tier animation quality.
Production Journey and Global Collaboration
The three-year development journey has involved careful planning around financing, talent, and production scope. Harmayn explains that being a first-time animated feature presented unique challenges, including assembling a capable team and locking in the right scale for investment. Barunson E&A has joined as both investor and sales agent, underscoring the film’s international ambitions. “We plan to release theatrically in Indonesia in the first part of 2026,” Harmayn states, while signaling a broader global release strategy that targets multiple territories beyond Indonesia.
Why Tokyo and Gap Financing Matters
presenting Garuda at the Tokyo Gap-Financing Market reflects a strategic move to engage with Japan’s renowned animation ecosystem. Harmayn highlights Japan as a leading center of animation and anime, making it an ideal place to learn from peers, explore gap financing opportunities, and identify potential distributors and festival launches. The Market offers a platform to showcase Garuda’s unique voice and production approach, while also enabling crucial financing conversations that could accelerate the project toward a 2026 release window.
Visual Identity, Research, and Craft
Gani stresses the necessity of a distinctive visual identity in a crowded animation landscape. The team is pursuing a look that is memorable yet feasible within production constraints. They also emphasize rigorous research across genres: film crews study real-world soccer footage to capture authentic energy in action sequences, while analyzing a broad spectrum of comedy to refine timing and humorous beats. This multi-disciplinary approach aims to bring the story’s emotional stakes and kinetic sports moments to life on screen.
Looking Ahead: More Projects on the Horizon
While Garuda: Dare to Dream takes center stage, the creative team is already laying groundwork for additional projects that would follow this feature. Details remain under wraps, but the ongoing development signals a commitment to expanding Indonesia’s animated storytelling footprint on the world stage.
Independence, Opportunity, and Growth
Garuda: Dare to Dream represents more than a single film project; it marks a milestone in Indonesia’s animation industry—an industry that is increasingly seeking international partnerships, creative risk-taking, and scalable production models. If all goes according to plan, Indonesian audiences will see the film in early 2026, and international audiences will get a taste of a fresh, culturally rich animated voice from Southeast Asia.
