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Illustrated animations in Lebanon or the Arab world are usually confined to newspaper caricatures, comedy shows that satirically poke at the political and social situation in Lebanon, illustrations in occasional TV commercials and blogs, and more recently, advertising firms that are using illustrational videos for their client businesses.

Lebanon’s first animation series came about two weeks ago in the satirical form of a Youtube TV station named BeirutPlus TV. Launched by none other than Wezank’s cofounders, Maya Zankoul and Toni Yammine – the series revolves around “Lebanese” TV anchors Vanessa and Fred, who present various news segments and TV programs that cover morning shows, evening news, commercials, soap-operas, even fortune-telling programs. The web series targets all Lebanese citizen who are fed up with the status quo and want to experience something new, quirky and fresh.

“We’ve been actually thinking of this for a few years,” Yammine told Arabnet during the launch of the opening event back on Dec 3. “It wasn’t until [Wezank] took off that we finally had the resources for this project.” Yammine and Zankoul’s experience in outsourcing illustrational videos was the obvious catalyst behind this project, and now that they had the suitable equipment and expertise, it was high time they got started. The episodes are 3 minute short, each of them portrays some aspect of the Lebanese mundane life with the aid of quirky and well-rounded characters.

When Arabnet inquired about the inspiration behind the project, Yammine replied that it was the lack of real Lebanese animation shows that motivated them. “The main excuse that everybody gives is that we are a small country with no budget, no money... and we’re trying to break that. Also, we really love animation, so it’s our right to watch something that pertains to the Lebanese culture.”

“TV-station content is becoming less and less original, so we make fun of it” Zankoul added. “This project [came] as pure entertainment and escape.” The first series of the animation show was met with some success, garnering 3,318 views so far and 451 subscriptions to the channel.

Do they plan to make money out of it? Not for the time being, says Yammine. “It’s not a business now; it’s something we do for fun.” Understandably, the main challenge for them is finding the time to create a weekly episode that is uploaded every Wednesday on their YouTube channel. Their long term goals for this project? “Oh I’d love to see it in the big screen one day,” says Yammine, “you never know”.