Ma Xinhui, an animation director, is a member of both the Shenzhen Illustration Association (in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province) and the Asian-Pacific Arts and Creativity Education Exchange Association. Ma, who works in New York, the United States, uses animation to tell China's stories, and Chinese women's stories.
Her Dream
Ma has had a keen interest in comics and novels since she was little. Much of her childhood was spent enjoying classic comic books, from both home and abroad.
From the scientific exploration in 3,000 Whys of Blue Cat to the traditional culture embodied in Go Player, each classic comic book left a deep impression οn Ma.
When she was a student in both primary and middle school, Ma often rushed to bookstores, in her spare time, to search for her favorite comic books. Almost all of her pocket money was spent on purchasing comic books, and she collected many classic comics.
With the support of her parents, Ma pursued her dream of painting. From basic training in sketching and watercolors to innovative exploration in experimental animation, she began to develop a strong interest in the art of film narrative.
In 2012, Ma enrolled in the international class (high school division) at Shenzhen Luohu Foreign Language School, in Shenzhen, where she devoted herself to studying painting. When asked by her teacher about her ideal, Ma replied, "I want to be an animator."
In 2015, Ma enrolled in the School of Visual Arts (SVA), in New York. Her skills in animation design and production rapidly improved during her four years of study.
To delve deeper into the animation industry, Ma completed four internships during her university years. Thus, she strengthened her basic skills, and she gained a better understanding οf the market's demands.
Ma graduated from SVA, with a bachelor's degree in fine arts (animation), in 2019. Before her graduation, she spent a year creating an animated short film, Filla' Void. The short film was recognized by various film festivals, including Rhode Island International Film Festival (in the United States) and TOPU International Animation Week (in China).
Filla' Void is a science-fiction animation set in a future world. It adopts a unique perspective: Society is plunged into unprecedented panic when the supply of a crucial resource suddenly stops. Confronted with this abrupt crisis, people engage in fierce conflicts and confrontations, as they compete for resources, thereby triggering a profound reflection on survival, desires and human nature.
"Through this story, I'd like to indicate, beneath the fast-paced modern life, there exists deep-rooted voids in people's hearts that cannot be filled. People often blindly seek comfort and compensation from the external world, but they neglect their true inner needs," Ma says.
Building a Career
After she graduated from SVA, Ma sent her resume and cover letters to several animation studios in New York. Finally, her efforts paid off, and she was employed as an animator and illustrator at an animation studio. She not only focused on her job, but she also took on freelance projects.
"During this process, I was fortunate to work, side by side, with many outstanding artists, which benefited me a lot," Ma says. "The pace of our creation was fast. I needed to quickly transform οur ideas into actual work. Such challenging tasks have honed my skills, and enhanced my creativity."
In her spare time, Ma has been devoting herself to creating a comic book, Revolteen and Little Wormie. It reflects her beautiful memories of her childhood, her depiction of fantasies, and her anticipation for the future. "I want to explore, through this work, how people can retain their true selves in the socialization process in the adult world," Ma says.
Revolteen and Little Wormie depicts a world full of fantasy and vitality. Revolteen is a spunky middle schooler who is always on her rollerblades. One summer day, she realizes the town where she lives runs in a circle, and all of the students at her school have turned into stationery. The girl rescues a little worm in the amusement park, and the two set off on a journey to escape the strange town.
"To shape a unique world view, I have devoted a lot of time to designing vivid stationery characters, adding color and depth to the entire story," Ma says.
Ma has been working hard to perfect Revolteen and Little Wormie. She plans to have it published this year, by a Chinese publisher, and she hopes to have it adapted into an animated series or a record.
Ma established her own animation studio, Umbrella Ma'an Studio, in New York, in July 2023. She is dedicated to telling the rich, and diverse, stories of China to the world, and to building a bridge connecting animation creators and audiences in China and the United States.
Ma has participated in many large-scale projects, and she has produced animated ads for many brands, including Google, Amazon, Android and Sony.
Feeling the Warmth
In 2024, Ma served as director, screenwriter and color designer of an animated short film, Flamingo in the Garden. Ma plans to submit the film to festivals, including Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival.
Flamingo in the Garden is based on Ma's personal experience. In 2020, during her surfing trip in Morocco, Ma broke her ankle and had to stay in a hospital for several months.
As she coped with the double predicament of her physical inconvenience and the language barrier, Ma found the kindness of strangers at the hospital to be like an oasis in the desert. Those strangers comforted Ma's lonely heart while she was far from her home.
"Although the medical staff and other patients didn't know me at all, and they couldn't understand what I was saying, they still did their best to help me. I received so much love from them. This made me feel the warmth of humanity, changed my view οn interpersonal relationships in different cultural backgrounds, and gave me creative inspiration," Ma says.
Flamingo in the Garden tells the story of a young Chinese woman who, after suffering an accident in a foreign land, gradually overcomes her trauma and recovers amidst the interweaving of reality and illusion on her sickbed.
"I hope the audience can draw strength from the protagonist's experience, let go of their pain, and stand up again," Ma says.
While creating the film, Ma worked closely with more than 100 artists, designers and animators to bring each part οf the project to a more fulfilling level. "This is a relatively large project. For me, there were challenges in project management and team collaboration," Ma says.
Color design plays a crucial role in conveying the emotions in a film. Ma precisely controlled the contrast of tones, especially between day and night, in the film, and she carefully adjusted their visual proportions. Also, the film contains 10 distinct scenes, each of which has been meticulously designed by the team and presented through different angles of the camera.
Most of the members of the production team were Chinese women. "We have overcome many difficulties and completed this film together. I am proud of our Chinese women, and I look forward to creating more stories featuring Chinese women in the future," Ma says.
Flamingo in the Garden is not only an attempt at artistic creation, but also a showcase of the narrative charm and cultural depth of Chinese animation to the world.
In future, Ma plans to make feature films or series, and to keep telling China's stories and spreading China's voice through animation, contributing to cultural exchanges between China and the US, and also the development of animation art.
Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
Photos from Interviewee
(Women of China English Monthly July 2025)
Editor: Wang Shasha
