I am really looking forward to this. I don’t have the details but once I do, I shall put them up here on the blog. It is sad that they seem to be releasing the film only in 3 metros. I am sure there are a lot of people in smaller cities who would have liked to see this beautiful film.

Persepolis is writer-director Marjane Satrapi’s magical and ingenious award-winning story of a young girl coming of age in Iran, that is both lively and thought-provoking. The animated film is an adaptation of graphic novels about her childhood. Persepolis, which has won, among others, the Jury Prize at the Festival de Cannes in 2007, and an Oscar nomination in 2008 sees Iran through the eyes of the precocious and outspoken nine-year-old Marjane. Critically acclaimed and widely enjoyed, Persepolis is a magical and ingenious film based on Satrapi’s own experiences of growing up in an increasingly fundamentalist Iran.

NDTV Lumière is the first movement of its kind in India that aims to meet the long-existing need of film enthusiasts. It will provide access to top quality cinema from across the world, premiering the best of world cinema in Indian theatres. The films from NDTV Lumière will span across genres from drama, animation and comedy to horror, thrillers and political dramas. These films include popular, critically acclaimed films from across the world and also the finest award-winning international cinema international film festivals. At NDTV Lumière, the endeavour is to create awareness of current global trends in an industry that is constantly evolving with the continuous influx of new talent, and to offer audiences a wider variety of films to choose from.

The Annecy Festival is exactly a week away and with India as the Focus Country this year; everyone is excited about the implications. NASSCOM is taking a large Indian delegation to Annecy including some of the biggest and best studios in India - Toonz Animation, Paprikaas, Accel Animation, Sanra, Kahani World, Big Animation, FX Labs, ettaminA, Blowfish FX, Dawson, Cornershop, Graphiti, Green Gold, Picasso Digital, to name just a few.

NASSCOM is organizing THE INDIA PAVILLION together with Government of India - Ministry of Information & Broadcasting at Annecy 2008 – the world’s largest creative festival for animators and the animation world.

The 27 square meters large ‘Indian Pavilion’ is the largest showcase of Indian animation companies at any single event and the stand will present the logos, play the show reel and display the logos of all the participating companies. The ministry and trade delegation will be meeting several counterparts from other countries and discussions will range from proposing growth initiatives including co-production treaties, reciprocal participation in trade shows and official visits by trade delegations between themselves. To celebrate the ‘Spotlight on India’, NASSCOM and the delegation will be the hosts for the opening gala evening on the 10th where an Indian Fair has been planned. A show-reel of student and professional films compiled by ASIFA India will also be showcased by the delegation. A handbook on India, with updated information on the industry and profiles of visiting delegates will be presented.

Speaking about this Col. S V Ramachandran, Regional Director, NASSCOM said, “NASSCOM Animation and Gaming Forum has decided to participate in selected international markets as a platform to present the Indian Industry. MIFA at Annecy is the largest ‘pure play’ animation market and NASSCOM’s participation last year convinced us about the possibilities for our members and the positive role the government can play in turbo powering some of the initiatives.”

I caught up with Biren Ghose, CEO Kahani World Inc. and Chairman of the NASSCOM Animation & Gaming Forum and here is what he had to share about NASSCOM’s role at Annecy and in the country’s Animation and Gaming scenario.

Q. As Nasscom delegate, what are you planning for the Indian Delegation to do at at Annecy 2008?

Biren: I have suggested that the main agenda for this delegation is to launch in the animation world the same main agenda that represents NASSCOM’s winning formula in the Indian IT industry. The goal at Annecy will be to use the festival and its spotlight on India to take forward the Indian animation in a glamorous and focused manner.

NASSCOM has a 7 point focus and our team will meet various people across these topics. These are:
1. Strengthen the brand equity of India for outsourcing and products
2. Partner with Government of India and State Governments in formulating enabling policies and legislation. Partner with global stakeholders for promoting the industry in global markets coproductions, etc.
3. Continue to be the thought leaders in creating the industry information for animation, gaming and VFX and deliver world-class research and strategic inputs for the industry and its stakeholders.
4. Expand the quantity and quality of the talent pool in India
5. Continuous engagement with all member companies and stakeholders to devise strategies to achieve shared aspirations for the industry and the country.
6. Encourage and facilitate members to uphold world class quality standards and enhance operational excellence.
7. Aim to uphold Intellectual Property Rights of its members.

Q. What are the main events that the team is participating in?

Biren: There are different team members and they will derive different benefits at the festival.

The India Pavilion will:
a) Act as a nodal point to receive enquiries for products services and collaborations with the delegation members.
b) Provide the professional syndicated showcase which will enable countries irrespective of their size to present their credentials in the international market.
c) Disseminate information on the Indian market and profiles of the delegations
d) Act as a networking point through the daily wine and cheese networking afternoons to the end of each market day! [3.30 to 4.30pm on the 11th to the 13th June 2008 at the India pavilion]
e) Develop a presence in a location that becomes a standard meeting point for companies that want to do business with India particularly the creative talent and producers from UK & Europe.

The Power Panel [on the morning of 12th June, Thursday] will:
a) Formally announce the government’s participation and patronage for this sector. Ms. Asha Swarup, the Secretary [the highest official in the Indian Government] for the information and broadcasting ministry is personally coming to chair the panel and to assess the potential for the Indian industry in the future.
b) The NASSCOM President, Mr. Som Mittal, is personally coming to his 1st international market in this sector to show solidarity with the initiative.
c) The Power Panel will have a mix of the Indian team presenting their viewpoints and also expatriates pointing out why India is such a strategic location for the future.

The Gala Evening is the best way to create an Indian buzz – we are expecting that the entire opening party shall have an Indian theme!

Q. You have been to various international animation events. What, in your opinion, makes Annecy particularly popular?

Biren: Annecy has already become a favourite business development venue exclusively dedicated to animation for (a) concluding European-Indian co-productions, (b) advancing strategic alliances, (c) seeing cutting-edge new pitches and competition films, (d) being the most beautiful surroundings in which the market is held. I am delighted that we have over 20 companies signed on to be center-stage at the MIFA market. The approval of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to participate at Annecy to help promote the Indian industry is a significant honour and breakthrough for the industry and they are working to reciprocate the government’s interest in powering this sector.

Q. Annecy is also a major festival for competition and exhibition. Is that also of interest?

Biren: NASSCOM also works with academic and industry advisors to formulate world-leading operational excellence standards. The forum is considering putting up a major festival and, for the past few years, already runs the “creative super pitch” which is the #1 pitching event in India attended by the best jurors from across broadcasters, distributors, etc. The Government has also asked NASSCOM to advise it on a national; Animation & Gaming School to be put up by the Government of India as a model institution.

Q. What is NASSCOM?

Biren: NASSCOM® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the Information Technology & Business Process Outsourcing industry in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1200 members, of which over 250 are global companies from across the US, UK, EU and Asia -Pacific. NASSCOM’s members are in the business of Services, Products, Technology Infrastructure Management, R&D services, E-commerce & Web services. Engineering services offshoring and Animation and Gaming are the sunrise sectors.

NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in these fields in India and employs over 2 million professionals. It therefore is the #1 in its representation. It is a not-for-profit organization.

NASSCOM has been a strong proponent of global free trade. It is committed to work proactively to encourage its members to adopt world class management practices, uphold highest standards in quality, security and innovation and work to retain India’s competitive position in a dynamic world with sweeping changes. It anticipates that, by 2010, India’s IT-BPO industry could potentially generate US$60 billion in export revenues, account for 8 percent of the India’s GDP, pay for a massive infrastructure build-out and sustain around 10 million jobs.

Q. What are the aims and objectives of NASSCOM?

Biren: Among its ‘Aims and Objectives’ is to drive the overall growth of the global sourcing market and maintain India’s leadership position, by taking up the role of a strategic advisor to member companies in the Indian IT-BPO sector. NASSCOM’s varied strengths include creating and influencing government and public policy, international trade development, research and market intelligence services, and access to an international network through 17 Memorandums of Understanding and linkages with 40 industry associations across the globe. This enables NASSCOM to advise members – both established and emerging companies to further their growth.

Q. Does NASSCOM cover all aspects of India or is it confined only to big companies in big cities?

Biren: NASSCOM endeavors to narrow the digital divide in India and enable all citizens particularly the economically deprived sections to get the benefits of technology. It is working with many state governments to use animation as a means to develop employment including in smaller towns. There is also a pioneering initiative in the social sector being championed by the NASSCOM Foundation, a separate trust set up to create this empowerment for the under privileged.

Thanks, Biren! We will catch up with you soon to learn more about the NASSCOM Animation and Gaming Forum.

TASI’s much awaited ANIFEST INDIA 2008 will be held this year on August 15th, 16th and 17th at IDC, IIT Powai in Mumbai.

They have already announced the ‘Call For Entries’ for the Viewers’ Choice Awards and this time there is an added category too.

1. Short Films : Students

2. Short Films : Professional

3. Advertising Commercials

The last date for submitting your entries is 15th July, 2008.

Lots of exciting stuff is being planned and with the beautiful IIT campus as the backdrop, there will be many interactive and hands-on workshops this year.

Further details will be announced soon, so stay tuned!

Three speakers will share their recent work and elucidate on the entire process of conceptualizing and planning up untill the actual production begins.

Santosh Sawant - Creative Director, Phoebus Creations, Mumbai

Uttam Pal - Independent Animator & Film-maker, Mumbai

Rudra Matsa - Founder & CEO, Panel Animation Studios, Hyderabad

With examples from their own films, the speakers will take you through the process from concept to the final blue-print. Phases discussed will include intellectual property (IP) creation, story, script, storyboarding, animatics, character and environment design, colour keys, sound design and much more!

Visit the TASI website for more information.

The planning was perfect, arrangements flawless and the least possible glitches ensured that everyone had a lot of fun and went back having gained something. Newbies, students, job-seekers, curious spectators, anxious parents of would-be animation students, were all milling around together in the two main halls and two smaller ones.

The event began on the right note by starting on time, which is a rarity these days. (God forbid you reach an event before time, you will be left cooling your heels for 2 hours before there is any sign of life! Thankfully, here it was not the case.)

RK Chand from CGTantra and Jigar Parekh from Nine - Making it Possible performed a small ‘pooja’ to begin with.

The show was inaugurated by volunteers, two girls who had come all the way from Jharkhand to be part of the expo. It was a genuinely nice gesture on the part of the organizers to show their appreciation towards the community that has actually contributed towards the success CGTantra.

The crowd began arriving early on Saturday morning. In the foreground is Laura Dohrmann from NVIDIA. Also seen in the middle of the crowd is Nigel Sumner, scene supervisor for ILM who has worked on films like Transformers, Terminator 3, Space Cowboys, Jurassic Park III, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Van Helsing, The Hulk, The Perfect Storm, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, War of the Worlds, Poseidon and Eragon.

The 2 day event organised by CGTantra with the help of Nine, went off smoothly right from the word GO. Apart from volunteers from Mumbai, there were students from all over India who had come just for the event, not only to participate but to help and to volunteer.

The opening speeches!

Student competitions in progress throughout the 2 days of the event.

Bang in the center of the hall was the Frameboxx pavilion which was also probably the liveliest and noisiest stall in the entire expo! Their yellow and black branding was everywhere as the team gave demos to curious visitors and prospective Frameboxx students alike. Large banners announced forthcoming projects including a Character Design contest that begins on the 28th of May.

Also present were Hardware vendors like NVIDIA, Apple distributors and resellers like Unicorn and Ample, Institutes from across India, Studios like Paprikaas, BIG Animation and Lucas Film Singapore who had come looking to hire new talent, Animation-related media companies like Animation Xpress, Animation Reporter, Animation Today and of course yours truly representing AAA, Zapak Games play-zone for gaming enthusiasts, Master Classes, student competitions, everything under one roof. TASI - The Animation Society of India also made its presence felt at the expo, announcing this year’s edition of the 3 day animation fest - Anifest India 2008! It was a place to learn, earn, network, have fun, share, make noise and lose your voice with all the talking!

Some more fun stuff!

Education Pavilion

Studios looking to hire fresh as well as experienced talent.

A huge Gaming Plaza by Zapak - every gamers dream…

Keep playing!

Kreeda Games’ Dance Mela and M M Mukhi & Sons’ Book and CD/DVD stall.

…and that’s Yours Truly at the AllAboutAnimation stall. A BIG THANK YOU to all the visitors and the readers who came specially and told me how much they like the website/blog. Feels great to know that one’s hard work is appreciated.

I sincerely hope that CGTantra keeps organizing more such fests in other cities as well. Kudos to their team!

I will be there on both days. Looking forward to seeing you at the CGTExpo 2008!!

Last evening I attended a Book Signing by Lord Jeffrey Archer at the Landmark Book Store in Andheri, Mumbai. It was one of the most beautiful and inspiring evenings of my life and I will soon blog about the experience and why I have chosen to include him, a story-teller par excellence, in this Animation related blog.

Today and tomorrow (21st and 22nd May) is the IAI - Industry Academia Interface organized by Animation Xpress. I went for the session today and was stunned by the abysmally low turnout. Either people weren’t informed or they weren’t interested Either way, it doesn’t bode well for the future of Animation, Gaming and VFX of India. There were more speakers than audience, though the line up of topics was very good. Sad!

This weekend - 24th and 25th May - is the CGTExpo 2008, CGTantra’s brand new attempt at reaching out to more people. All About Animation will be there with a stall so anyone who wants to meet me can drop by and find out more about AAA.

See you at CGTExpo!!!

http://www.cgtexpo.com/masterclasses.html

See the details of the sessions and speakers.

Suresh Kalmadi, MP and Chairman of Pune Vyaspeeth announced at a press conference on Saturday, 17th May that the 5th Hi Tech Pune-Maharashtra 2008 conference, a 3-day event which has so far focussed on IT (Information Technology) and BT (Biotechnology) would this year include Animation and Gaming as well.

“Innovation Led Inclusive Growth” is what they are calling the conference but what exactly will be discussed with regards to the animation industry and who will speak is not certain. They have mentioned an Animation & Gaming Committee though, comprised of:

Commodore Anand Khandekar (Director Pune Development Center and Chief Mentor NVIDIA)

Ravi Gupta (Executive Director, Whistling Woods International)

Aashish Kulkarni (CEO, Anirights)

Sunanda Rathi (Director Arena Animation, Pune)

Dr. Ajay Batra (Author: “Breeding Innovation and Intellectual Capital” and “Integrated Innovation, Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital Framework”)

The website does not offer much information either and the only topic mentioned in the list is one that has already been done to death, - “Opportunities & Challenges of Gaming & Animation Industry.” One wishes that they would find fresh topics to discuss at such prestigious events rather than have the same people rehash the same “issues” over and over again.