Bangladeshi-Canadian filmmaker Wahid Ibn Reza has earned international recognition for Bangladesh’s animation industry after his short animated film After Us won three honours at the 2026 Leo Awards in Canada.
The awards were presented during the annual ceremony in Vancouver on 4 and 5 July. Established in 1999, the Leo Awards recognise excellence in film, television, animation and digital productions created in British Columbia.
After Us received four nominations and won three awards — Best Animation Program, Best Art Direction and Best Sound Design.
Its biggest achievement came in the Best Animation Program category, where it outperformed several internationally recognised productions, including LEGO Disney Frozen, LEGO Marvel Avengers, Snoopy Presents, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and an animated short featuring the voice of actor Andy Serkis.
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the five-minute, five-second film imagines a world after humanity has disappeared. Through the journey of a wolf and a wolverine across a post-apocalyptic landscape, After Us explores themes of climate change, nature’s resilience and survival.
Reacting to the achievement on social media, Wahid Ibn Reza recalled a childhood memory linked to his first prize. He said his mother once gave him a toy guitar as a consolation prize after he lost a competition, although he later returned it. Joking about the incident, he wrote that the memory is still the first thing that comes to mind whenever he thinks about awards.
Describing the latest success as a remarkable achievement for the entire team, he added with his trademark humour: “Not bad, not bad at all.”
Before beginning his filmmaking career, Wahid Ibn Reza graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). He later moved to Canada to study filmmaking at the University of British Columbia.
Throughout his career in visual effects and animation, he has worked on several major international productions, including Game of Thrones, Rick and Morty, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy and Hotel Transylvania.
His earlier animated film, Surviving ’71, also received acclaim at several international film festivals.
