How Lenovo Technology Helps Bring DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island to Life

Behind every animated film is a world of technology working quietly in the background.

Long before audiences meet colorful characters, explore fantastical locations, or become immersed in a story, teams of artists, animators, engineers, and technical specialists are already hard at work turning ideas into something that can live on screen.

That is where Lenovo’s long-standing technology collaboration with DreamWorks Animation comes in.

The partnership brings together Lenovo workstations, high-performance computing infrastructure, data center technology, and services designed to support the demanding creative and technical workflows behind modern animated filmmaking.

One of the productions benefiting from this technology ecosystem is Forgotten Island, DreamWorks Animation’s new original feature inspired by Filipino culture, mythology, and family stories.

Bringing a Filipino Inspired Story to the Big Screen

At the heart of Forgotten Island are lifelong best friends Jo and Raissa, voiced by Grammy and Academy Award winner H.E.R. and Filipino actress Liza Soberano.

As the two prepare to take separate paths after high school, an unexpected turn of events transports them to Nakali, a mysterious and magical island filled with creatures drawn from Filipino mythology and stories passed down through generations.

The result is an adventure that combines friendship, coming of age, mythology, and Filipino cultural influences in a story created for audiences around the world.

The film is written and directed by Academy Award nominee Joel Crawford and Januel Mercado and produced by Academy Award nominee Mark Swift, the filmmaking team behind Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

The voice cast also features Dave Franco, Jenny Slate, Manny Jacinto, Dolly de Leon, Jo Koy, Ronny Chieng, and Lea Salonga.

For Filipino audiences, however, the significance of Forgotten Island goes beyond its impressive cast and animation.

It is a chance to see elements of Filipino culture and mythology represented on a major global stage.

The Technology Working Behind the Scenes

Creating an animated feature of this scale takes far more than creative ideas.

Every character, environment, movement, lighting effect, and visual detail requires significant computing power. Behind the artists are systems capable of handling massive workloads throughout the filmmaking process.

DreamWorks expanded its relationship with Lenovo in 2025, naming the technology company its preferred compute services, workstation, and solutions provider.

The collaboration builds on years of working together, with Lenovo high-performance workstations supporting creative workflows across the studio and Lenovo infrastructure helping handle the large-scale computing demands involved in building animated films.

For the people making the movie, that technology has a straightforward purpose: keep the creative process moving.

“Every animated film begins with artists and storytellers, but bringing their ideas to the screen also requires a technology foundation capable of keeping pace with their imagination,” said Kate Swanborg, SVP, Technology Communications and Strategic Alliances at DreamWorks Animation.

With Forgotten Island, that foundation supports the creation of a world shaped by Filipino culture and mythology, from its characters and environments to the visual details that help make Nakali feel like a living place.

When Technology Stays Behind the Story

The most interesting part of the relationship between Lenovo and DreamWorks may be that the technology itself is not supposed to steal the spotlight.

For filmmakers and artists, the goal is to have reliable tools that allow them to concentrate on the creative decisions that matter.

Michael Ngan, President and General Manager of Lenovo Philippines, described the role of technology as an enabler for the people responsible for bringing the story to life.

“At DreamWorks, there are countless creative decisions, ideas, and people working together. Our role at Lenovo is to provide technology that helps give those creators the performance and reliability they need so they can stay focused on what matters most, the story they want to tell.”

That idea is particularly relevant to Forgotten Island.

The film begins with a story rooted in Filipino influences, but its journey from concept to finished animation depends on a complex combination of creativity and technology.

The artists imagine the world.

The filmmakers shape the story.

And the technology provides the computing foundation needed to turn those ideas into the finished images audiences eventually see.

Filipino Culture Takes Center Stage

While Lenovo’s technology plays a role behind the production, the bigger story is what Forgotten Island represents for Filipino audiences.

The island of Nakali brings magical creatures and mythology inspired by Filipino traditions into a contemporary animated adventure. At its center is the friendship between Jo and Raissa as they face change, uncertainty, and the possibility of taking different paths.

Those themes give the story a personal dimension, while the Filipino-inspired setting gives it a distinctive cultural identity.

For Lenovo Philippines, supporting the production also highlights how technology can help creative voices reach audiences far beyond their original communities.

“Technology is at its best when it helps people turn imagination into something others can experience,” Ngan added. “Seeing Filipino-inspired stories represented on this scale is something worth celebrating, and we are proud that Lenovo technology is helping support the creators bringing those stories to audiences around the world.”

From Filipino Stories to a Global Audience

The journey of Forgotten Island is a reminder that the technology behind a major animated production is ultimately there to serve the story.

High-performance workstations and computing infrastructure may operate far from the spotlight, but they help give artists the tools to build enormous worlds, create expressive characters, and translate ambitious ideas into finished films.

For Forgotten Island, that process has helped bring a fantastical world inspired by Filipino culture and mythology to life.

And for Filipino audiences, seeing those influences become part of a major DreamWorks Animation production makes the film an especially meaningful moment.

DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island is now showing in theaters nationwide.