On 08 December 2025, Content Buzz 5 gathered a few of Brunei’s accomplished and pioneers in Digital Content Creation ranging from local digital cartoonist, motion graphic artist, creator of 2D creatives and an international animation filmmaker. This event brought together audiences from production houses, content creators, freelancers, marketing agencies, and students to foster a learning and collaborative environment.

The event began with opening remarks from Dyg Rosnani Binti Hj Md Yussof, Senior Manager, Broadcasting Industry Development Group, AlTI and featured a vibrant panel from the industry from Brunei and Australia: Diyana Shahrol-Zaki (Founder, Dee Animations), Denny Azriman (Founder, Ambuyart Animations) and Chantelle Murray (Film Writer & Director, The Lost Tiger, Australia). The session was moderated by Dr. Norena Lie Yi-Chin, Lecturer from Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).

The conversations covered the speaker’s insights, valuable experiences and lessons learnt during their journey in creating animation works for Brunei and beyond. The discussions also highlighted how important ICT-creatives can boost the digital economy through the medium of storytelling, digital innovation and collaborative efforts among relevant agencies.  Issues and challenges faced by the industry were also addressed, as well as the continuous strive to seek possible solutions in reaping the benefits of creating animated contents on various channels that can be monetized and create more job opportunities for our industry.

Some of the main key take away for the sessions were that Brunei animators are quite scattered. There industry has been around but all over the place. It was suggested to have a scheduled event to be held every 3-6 months such as content buzz to be one of their routine platform for open discussions. Another main requirement was the need for more industry professionals to train the locals.

This is considering that formal learning in Institute of Higher Learning (IHLs) is highly academic and does not provide the actual industry training that an actual animator requires. Another matter brought to the dialog was the need of working together to provide market opportunities.

This can be done by sharing contacts and offering to other local industry players that are looking to bring their films or content outside of Brunei.  The other main issue brought up during the session was the obvious funding required. Without the availability of sufficient funds or organization such as a film commission, would be difficult for animators or productions to expand and grow.

It was proposed that productions to go to film festivals and seek the opportunity to pitch their ideas and obtain a certain amount of funding for them to add on to their production budget. Film festivals are more than just a competition for films but also a platform for productions to pitch their ideas for funding and from investors as well as an avenue for potential collaboration.

One of the main understanding when doing productions, it is important to re-invest in the people through  animation co-production works. The more production work is done, more jobs are given to people involved including the businesses that they hired to ensure the smooth production work flow.