More to come later…

The season kicks of with the much-awaited and resilient ANIFEST INDIA ‘09, which battled the killer flying pigs (you know what I mean!!) to emerge a winner. Now slated for 18th, 19th and 20th of September, ANIFEST INDIA will retain its flavour and all its fantastic sessions except for those by Nate Wragg and Christian Krupa who had to return to the USA. Instead we have a super VFX bonanza from Sony Imageworks - Behind the Scenes of ‘The Watchmen’ and ‘G-Force 3D’. TASI has done a superb job of getting an assortment of topics together all at one venue - Anifest India ‘09 is being held at the Convocation Hall, IIT Powai, Mumbai. Registrations were closed in early August itself as the number crossed 1500 but spot registrations @Rs.400/- all inclusive might just be available if you reach early on the days of the event.
For all the details including sessions, speakers, timing and the TASI Viewer’s Choice Awards, visit www.tasionline.org

Next up is the week-long International Animation Day celebration by ASIFA India sometime in October-November. Every year, 27th October is commemorated as International Animation Day across the globe. ASIFA India has been celebrating the occasion with events held across various cities in India - typically beginning with an all-day event in Mumbai at NCPA where the Awards of Excellence are given out. While I’m still awaiting details about this year’s festival, the Call for Entries for the 8th Annual ASIFA India Awards of Excellence are open. For details, check out this link. Hurry, the last date is 13th September 2009.

Then from Oct 29th to 31st we have the second edition of Chitrakatha - An international student animation film festival organised by the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. What’s even cooler about the festival (besides the fact that you get to interact with probably the best talent in the country) is that it is being held against the beautiful backdrop of the NID campus. If you missed it the last time, make sure you don’t miss it now! They also have announced a call for entries - one for a student category and the other for teachers. Check it out here.

Make the most of it and don’t miss any of these celebrations of the Art of Animation!

On the first day of the Chitrakatha Festival at NID, there was a special presentation by Binita Desai, Associate Professor, Animation Designer, DAIICT, Gandhinagar, to commemorate the completion of 20 years by the animation department at NID. She has generously shared the transcript of the presentation for our readers.

A wonderful selection of films by students through the years was screened after Binita’s compelling talk on the origin of the animation department at NID and all the people that made it possible. Here is a list of the films that were screened followed by the transcript of Binita’s presentation.

9816DN by Vivekanand Roy Ghatak - 1:32 mins. Year - 2000
A non-narrative tale of the Indian Railway, about a traveller completing a long, tiring yet adventurous trip.

National Highway by R J Mistry - 3:10 mins. Year - 1984
A film on drunk driving on the Indian highway and the dangers of it.

Patang by Binita Desai - 2:15 mins. Year - 1984
A poetic impression of the famous kite festival in Ahmedabad, India.

Protagonist by Prakash Moorthy - 3:15 mins. Year - 1987
The age-old story of divide and rule retold in a small village in Kerala.

A Summer Story by Nina Sabnani - 3:15 mins. Year - 1987
A modern version of the Panchatantra tale of the Thirsty Crow.

Give the earth a break by Anil Bose - 2:18 mins. Year - 1993
A tale of the origin of earth, its growth and finally total disaster.

Hypocrite by Manisha Mohan - 4:00 mins. Year - 1992
The story of mindless civilization that puts nature at stake.

His Master’s Choice by Shreenivas Bhakta - 6:55 mins. Year - 1994
A light-hearted look at colonial imperialism in Bengal in the early 20th century

Antagonist by Sekhar Mukherjee - 2:10 mins. Year 1996
An ironical tale of the feudal electoral process in a pseudo democracy where the king wins an unfair election by crushing the hope of the population.

Oops by Sukanya Ghosh - 3:09 mins. Year 1998
Funny tale about the pranks of a little girl and her cat.

Utsav by Upasana Natoji 1:25 Mins. 2000
Non-narrative experimental animation celebrating the festival of Navratri.

Ate by Gautam Singh 2:09 Mins. 2001
Story of a spider who is trying to escape the enemy - a ‘flycatcher’ and how?!!

If Only by Sweta Bhatnagar 1:22 Mins. 2001
A short reminder of the near-future crisis - ‘drinking water’.

Dhak by Rajesh Chakraborty 3:02 Mins. 2002
A non-narrative animation on Drum-beating during the festival of Durga Pooja.

Sarama by Shailja Jain 5:04 Mins. 2003
An ironical tale of the life of misery of urban animals.

Khintikiri Pinta by Pushan Chakraborty 5:34 Mins. 2004
‘Khintikiri Pinta’ is gibberish slang hurled by an angry kid at the sun. The film unfolds to reveal an interesting relationship build up between the arrogant chilc and the innocent little sun-kid.

It Was Raining by Partha Das 1:40 Mins. 2005
Each window of every house has its own story.

The Rain Dance by Vijay Arumugam 7:50 Mins. 2006
The monsoon fails to show up in Mannargudi. Most of the people belonging to the village have left the place seeking better life outside. Karuppaiya’s family stays back in the hope that the village will prosper and flourish again.

Bald And Beautiful by Bhanu Prakash 4:37 Mins. 2007
An autobiographical film, portraying the director’s own life experience and linking all the events with his hair.

Binita’s presentation on 20 years of NID: (Transcript)

“There was animation at NID even before there was a department. To mention one great name Leo Leoni. I would here take the names of Claire Weeks, R L Mistry, Narendra Patel, NarayanBhai, Ishu Patel, Ram Mohan, Roger Noake, Joan Ashworth, Cathy Greenhalgh, I S Mathur, Vikas Satwaleker, Ashok Chatterji, Bhimsen, Kantilal Rathod, Len Lewis of Shootsey, Richard Purdum Studios, Aerial Image Opticals, John Challice of Eyeworks, Bob Godfrey, Barry Parker, Raoul Servais, Chitra Sarathy, Nina Sabnani, Subhash Kotwal, Shyam, the UNDP, myself and a host of others who have all in either a direct way or indirectly contributed to the creation of a department and therefore contributed to the history of Animation at NID. Graphic Design students graduated from the Under Graduate progamme at NID doing their diploma projects in Animation, that, I think is great generosity.

1980 : The first formal initiative was with Claire Weeks there was a total of seven members to be part of a one year workshop in Animation which was extend to two. There were as part of this initial group 7 members - two from NID - Sailesh Modi and Mita Bhagat and Shyam and Subhash Kotwal, from the JJ school of Arts and three from MSU at Vadodara, Faculty of Fine Arts, Chitra Sarathy, Nina Sabnani and myself. Learnt our first skills in Animation with ClaireWeeks. He was exacting and pushed us to create precise work. We viewed on celluloid several animated films combined with the film screenings done in Mr I S Mathur’s class on Cinema Appreciation. It was a huge number of screenings, all we remember is we saw till our eyeballs were hanging on strings!! Analysing, critiquing and writing about them, was an integral part of seeing cinema.

The workshop ended. Chitra, Nina and I were invited to stay. Chitra joined the then Calcutta cell and conducted several workshops during her tenure. We helped her by our periodic visits to support her effort in animation. An NID-made Animation stand was sent off to her so she could make films and she did. Having worked with Oxberry precision, this home made contraption was a tremendous story of perseverance but not precision. But it worked in its strange old way. They did make films on it.

Ishu Patel has conducted several works every time he has visited the country apart from all that we learned from him strictly in animation, he gently reminded us to work to the bone (which we did) but to party hard as well. We only needed someone to tell us to party. We marveled at his energy and his amazing skills. Being ambidextrous is unthinkable for most we barely manage to use one hand to capacity, but here was this man who painted like a wizard with both hands. He would fill with one and shade with the other.

Our designations kept changing from Design Trainees to Faculty Trainees and during the time under the UNDP training programme we worked with Roger Noake (from The West Surrey College of Art and Design) who was invited to be at NID for six months to introduce us Chitra Sarathy, Nina, R L Mistry and me to a different kind of Animation from the world of Disney which Claire brought in. European, Czech and Polish animation turned into a fascination. R L Mistry during this workshop made a film called National Highway which was to got him the National Award.

The UNDP training programme in 1985 took Nina to Ghent in Belgium and Holland and me to Studios in London and we spent a better part of our time at the West Surrey College of Art and Design (where Roger Noake was teaching) exploring new styles and techniques. Being students again was fun. Being there and visiting institutions like the National Institute of Film and Television was a rewarding experience which allowed us to make friends and establish Professional contacts that have benefited NID subsequently.

It was in 1985 that we started conceiving a programme for post graduate students in Animation. Nina, R L Mistry and me from the animation department came together with others to start work on the programme. Being the first coordinator of this programme is the reason for me to be standing here and making this presentation.

The first programme : Prakash Moorthy, Basav, Shouma Banerjee were part of the first batch of students. The programme was ambitious in the beginning and it progressively got fine tuned as we went along. We modified the programme each year and systematically for close to four years until we arrived at something that we were satisfied with. We kept up the programme and regardless of a critical mass we went on. In the light of this, NID’s generosity as an institution and its willingness to take risks to start new programmes is undisputed. Nina and I were roughly 22 years old and were given the responsibility of starting the Animation Programme. It started as a Post graduate programme every alternate year and in time found a route for under graduate students to join in. We had a mandate for when it started and we tried to improve each year. Today I do think I can say we have a special kind of animation here at NID and it is what we have collectively figured out. We tried to build it into the programme subversively sometimes and overtly at other times. It’s been rolling and will roll on for long.

Narendra Patel who was then doing his Diploma film provided us the additional strength and wisdom to fine tune the programme. More importantly he gave us the courage and knowledge to handle the Oxberry camera. We would tinker and repair the camera ourselves with the help of Harikaka in the workshop, as we could not wait for Peter Neilson to come from England and help fix the camera. Harikaka was a store house of applied knowledge and we enjoyed the challenges together and it was extremely valuable. Dealing with the mechanical world was easy; we could see, hear the errors and identify the problems. The electronic world is too silent and illusive for me.

Working with celluloid was a dream and a problem. Mistakes had to be on the drawing board. Learning to flick your drawings and point out errors as a skill was fine tuned. All line tests to check movements were done on sound film, processed in the photography studio by twirling the film back and forth and drying it on the lawn. This was then seen on an editing machine!! There was no room for errors lest it had to be done again. The line tester, Quick Action recorder was comparatively a boon, but it also altered animation.

Joan Ashworth and Cathy Greenhalgh who we had met in London during our UNDP training subsequently came to NID and conducted a model animation workshop when the second batch of students had joined in and some of them still work with model animation. Our contacts increased and the thoroughfare in the department of animators from around the world increased. The NID department never struggled to find students after 1989.

Building the Animation film collection was something that all of us did with a vengeance. It is today a massive collection and I reckon everyone has been adding to it like they have been honing the programme after many of us have left. There are innumerable stories but I think to give you more than this would be too burdensome.

I would like to applaud Shekhar and his dedicated student bunch and Isabelle for this effort. They have turned the department festivals we had by opening it out into to a larger audience and meaningful place for exchange. Thank you Cartoon Network.”

Animation is a discipline that combines everything and that was reflected in the selection of films screened:

Excerpt by Lucas Walker
It goes without saying by Una Lorenzen
Anamorphic trap by Beom-Sik Shim
Crank Balls by Devin Bell Bob and Julia by Jee Hyun Yoo
The Representation of Absent Things by Donna Golden
Ripe Rock by Max Winston
Dear Alphabet by Marina Budovsky

Presented by Alfred

The aim of this presentation was to showcase simple to complex Spanish films, some made by native Spanish animators living outside Spain and the others by non-Spanish animators living in Spain. Alfred put it succinctly - “We are not Spanish people”, he said. “We are people from the animation world”.

The showcase was also about the way that the films are made. About how people from a small industry and a small world make films. The power of the idea is striking in each and every one of the films being showcased. It’s not about big budgets but about the artist’s determination. His will to make good films. These films were made by people with more power inside them than in their hands.

A brief synopsis of the films:

El Viaje De Said by Coke Rioboo - 12:30 mins A musical plasticine animation about Said’s journey to the land of opportunities which he discovers is not as beautiful or nice as he has been told. A beautiful piece on the topic of immigration.

Quien Engana No Gana by NID PG student Partha Pratim Das, Rajiv Eipe, Kapil Pandit, Kaustubh Ray, Prashant Sartape, Nidhi Sundaram, Lucky Vakharia, Monisha Kaul under the guidance of Isabel Herguera - 3:20 mins A visual interpretation using sand animation of a Spanish song by the same name by singer Ojos De Brujo, from the album ‘Bari’. A few seconds into the video and you forget that it is sand being animated. Wonderful sample of animating with sand.

New York in Three Parts by Marcel Pie Barba - 5:30 mins An exploration of New York city, combining live action, pixillation and graphics.

My Gandmother by Luis Zamparo Pueyo - 9:40 mins A sad but poignant traditionally animated film about a lonely, old grandma who dies a solitary death.

Violeta, La Pescadora Del Mar Negro by Marc Riba & Anna Solanas - 9:00 mins A very dark and disturbing story about a little girl and her dark deeds presented beautifully using puppet animation.

The Tale Tell Heart by Raul Garcia - 9:00 mins A psychological thriller based on Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Tell Tale Heart” narrated in 1st person

Pcoyo by David Cantolle & Guillermo Garcia - 7:00 mins A delightful little film for very young kids which has also been broadcast on British television

The Fly Workshop Animac 2007 - 2:00 mins Andrea Pierri and the students of the Escola Municipal de Belles Arts of Lleida present a short film, the result of their workshop held during ANIMAC 2007.

Kudos to the Chitrakatha ‘07 team for having put together such a good show. The selection of films, programmes, workshops and panel discussions was in keeping with the theme of the festival - “everything original”. Right from the posters to the T-shirts to the mascot to the theme animation, each and every element of Chitrakatha had been created lovingly and painstakingly by the students and faculty of NID. A daily newsletter was printed everyday by the students, with interesting tidbits of information and comments and interviews of the delegates. You will find in-depth coverage of the event here on the allaboutanimation blog.

As proud supporters of the festival, we really do hope that they make this an annual event and wish them all the very best!

1st Runner up : Norbert
by Michael Hill
RMIT University, Australia

2nd Runner up : The Tide
by Mette Skov
Den Danske Filmskole, Denmark

Jury Special Award : Aal im Schaedel (Eels)
by Martin Rahlow
Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

Special mention by Jury for Indian film : Three little pigs
by Bhawna Vyas
National Institute of Design, India

Prakash Moorthy, Head, Animation Dept. Miditech, India
Vaibhav Kumaresh, Vaibhav Studios
Simi Nallaseth, Director, Epiphany Films
Amit Anand, CEO, EttanimA Studios
Binita Desai, Associate Professor & Animation Designer, DAIICT, Gandhinagar
Arnab Chaudhuri, Animation Film Director
Basav Raja, Independent Animation Designer

The first question was addressed to to Arnab, who is currently directing his animated feature, Arjun.

“While directing your animated feature- Arjun, what kind of team are you trying to build and what are the challenges that you face in doing so?”
Arnab: We had a very short time to build the team. The biggest challenge is that the industry is built on technicians and not artists. A good creative layer has not been built as yet. We are trying to overcome the challenge by converting our technicians into artists. What we really need is people who can think on their own; come up with ideas and solutions by themselves.

Q. “The students here in the audience have never seen the inside of a studio. What are the kind of roles they can look forward to while working in a big studio? What is it like to work as part of a whole, especially because these students are used to creating an entire film independently?”
Arnab: In a feature film, the scope is that much larger than in an independent film. The rush you get by doing even 3 seconds of great work as part of a team on a big project, by creating visual effects and doing the job well, is tremendous. You feel the same sense of ownership and pride as you would for your own independent film. I do not think it is a step down.

Question to Vaibhav: “Please talk further on this. Students are so accustomed to owning the entire production process. What is your perspective on this?”
Vaibhav: I would like to say that there is no dearth of opportunities to do your own independent work even after leaving the institute. If you are doing it here at NID, you can go outside and do it too. It is not necessary to work in a studio. There is no compulsion to fit in. One can find opportunities if one looks hard enough. You can approach people to commission your work. CFSI and NFDC used to do it. There’s nothing wrong with working on a small scale and there’s absolutely no need to compromise. Yes, professional work is time bound and there will be a lot of pressure but that is part of the work.

To this, Amit Anand added :
You need to have a sense of realism about what the industry has to offer. Most students have no idea. I don’t think we can convert technicians to artists and vice versa. There is no need to do so. It is all about the supply chain. People need to identify where they want to play a part. In India, we need to grow pre-production talent. Go find your place in the supply chain, there are so many jobs, see where you fit in.

Audience question to Arnab:
Subhadra, NID alumnus: “Is Arjun about the mythological figure? If yes, why so? Why are all our new releases about mythological characters? Do you think the audiences are not yet ready for anything else?”
Arnab: Yes, it is about Arjun from the Mahabharat. No, I don’t think all the new releases are only mythological.
Subhadra: “What was your reason for doing a mythological Arjun?”
Arnab: It was an ongoing project that we took forward.

Binita: People in technical areas in the film industry or in gaming or any area are essential. We need front end sensibilities to be supported by backend technology. At the Dhirubhai Institute, that is exactly what we are doing. We tuning the engineers’ sensibilities to artistic needs so that they can be better tuned to support the creative people. The idea is not to turn them into creative people but to make them understand what it takes to do animation.

Prakash: Animation is like any other Cinema. It has a process and many roles- writers, technicians etc. Here at NID, students learn everything, and at the end of 5 years they will figure out what they are better suited for. Deeper than this, there is a greater need in the industry for well-rounded film-makers than those who a lot about a bit. There is a need for people who understand cinema.

Audience question- Rohit, NID student: “Do you feel there is a need for more specialized people? Do you think schools starve the industry by not encouraging specialization and creating more jacks of all trades?”
Arnab: Are you finding it difficult to find placement? Because we need all kinds of people.

Simi: I believe that your technique will come from your idea. The battle is not between technique and artistic ability. We need more idea-driven films. Make movies on anything that excites you. I do not think that the industry lacks technique or talent. What I would love to see is a day when I open the newspaper and see a whole bunch of animated films besides the regular ‘bollywood’ mainstream offerings. We need more original ideas. Not just mythology. Our film got financed because they loved it. We work because we like the film we are making. Don’t just be a cog in the wheel. Be responsible for your work.

Amit: (Offering another perspective) Why are we seeing only mythology? The ground reality is this - Can your movie poster can stand next to popular Bollywood posters and get a family of 5 to chose to spend Rs. 1000 on the tickets for your movie? Can your idea entice a movie-goer who is used to watching Shahrukh Khan? Is your idea strong enough?

Audience question - Jaya, NID student: “Commercial versus Creative, as artists what do we do? Lay people are not interested in experimental work that we do here as students. Do we create for them or for our own artistic satisfaction?”

Prakash: The answer is “Animation Film Appreciation”. It is not good enough to show each other our films and pat each other’s backs. The need is to take the films to the common man. Show them the films, share the experience. Only then can we sell our original stuff to them.

Binita: Regardless of how many times a story is narrated, how it is retold makes the difference. Its about sensibility, storytelling, passion and madness. You have to be obsessive and just do it. A great example is how Vaibhav and his clay characters made an ad film on a car battery interesting. You have to find an exciting way to tell the story.

Amit: (to a great round of applause) How many people think Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron is a brilliant film? (Most people raised their hands.) The film flopped when it had originally released. What that tells us is that every idea has its time. The time has to be right. Find the right story and do it at the right time.

Dr. Kavita: Myths, be it in India or anywhere in the world, carry certain archetypes and these are replayed with every generation. But their stories reflect the times and the meanings derived also change over time.

Audience response- Abhishek: Actors in Hindi films are iconic. People idolize them. We need to do the same with animation. Ramayan and Mahabharat have the quality where they lend themselves beautifully to the medium. There are heroes that we can idolize and villains that we can hate.

Audience response- Uttam: We need to stop being so skeptical and just take off. Hindi film industry didn’t grow overnight so why are we expecting that from the still nascent animation industry? Although hundreds of films relase every year even in Bollywood, very few actually succeed. The same applies to animation.

Audience comment- Pranay: I see a clash between 2D and 3D. Kids dont like 3D, they prefer 2D.

Audience response- Sara, NID Student: It is about how you interpret the story. 2D, 3D or even 5D!! It simply doesn’t matter. The medium could be anything, even sand or clay. The movie is just someone’s point of view of a subject.

Amit: There are 3 myths here-
1. Kids love 2D - It has been globally proven that the biggest selling properties are 3D. Kids love bright colours, cute faces and sounds. Children can’t even distinguish between the 2 mediums that you mentioned.
2. Its a misconception that our industry is churning out only mythology. A lot more is being done but not being announced for a number of reasons.
3. I forgot!! (everyone laughed at this)

Question addressed to all the panelists: “What are your expectations from NID?”

Prakash: I’m very happy with the way NID is going. There is talk of conceiving a national curriculum and I think it is imperative to do so. Everyone seems to want to teach animation but they are teaching only software and its the software that actually teaches you! Our country needs a unified curriculum so that there will be parity in the students that come out of these institutes.

Vaibhav: NID should introduce software in its curriculum. There’s nothing wrong with it. Once you learn how to use it, you will make far better use of it because you know the art. Otherwise, NID is complete, this is the only missing link.

Basav: Software is a myth. Everyone can learn, it is not a big deal. If you know what you want to do, the software will guide you. All you need is a bit of hard work initially. You just need to learn the methodology. You learn the interface and workings of one software and you can learn the rest.

Arnab: I think enough has been said about software. I would like to see more creative writing coming out of NID. I want ot see more humour, more comedy. It is the most popular thing and yet the toughest to create.

Binita: We must increase 1st order experience in the programme. Have fantastic conversations, watch great cinema, listen to great music. Work hard; work to the bone but also party hard.

Amit: (addressed to Sekhar and his team) NID needs more interaction. They have been isolated for far too long. Thanks for initiating this effort, Sekhar.

Simi: Focus on madness. Money ruins things. Enjoy the joy of creation. Don’t bother about the money.

Question to Sekhar: “What changes would you like to see in students?”

Sekhar: (jokingly) I’ve become a silent film myself! Life is too serious to be taken seriously, so laugh!

Question: “What changes would you see in the institute?”

Sekhar: (joking again) The changes are happening rather clandestinely.

Comment by Greg Acuna: “If you see the websites of institutes, most faculty are people who work in studios. I feel NID students should go out into the world and teach what they have learnt here. Get more industry people to teach.”

Prakash: We need to introduce writing in animation. There is a dearth of good writers.

Arnab: Good writing doesn’t necessarily mean a command over language. Look at Vaibhav. There is great humour in his work but yet without words. Great writing can be without words.

Binita to Greg: Animation is new to India. I meant people should give a return gift to NID, to the new generation by supporting them in their venture to learn.

Greg: “There are so many films being launched. Who is writing them? The Bollywood format won’t work in animation!”

Amit: At the industry level, there are good writers in-house in the studios. They are being trained. I do not know at the institute level.

Sekhar:We are modifying the age old faculty form!

Audience question - Ranjit (sound artist): “Sound is so integral to the story, how do you do it?”

Simi: We have professionbal sound people, who are part of the creation process. It goes back anfd forth, we even derive ideas and inspiration from the music given by the sound artist.

Answering Rohit’s query on finding an audience for independent films - Amit Anand had just 1 word - YouTube!

Prakash and Binita said they agree with Rohit’s anxiety of wanting to do a film independently and not having the money to do so. Earlier it was tough but now easy access to technology has made it easier. There has to be a way that a person gets to work on his/her film and not worry about the finances.

Audience comment- Chand:There are lots of options available like aniboom.com etc but the films also should live up to the media on offer.

Audience comment- Yogi: I personally feel animation should be introduced at the school level

Vaibhav pointed out that we are doing it already through TASI’s workshops. Simi teaches basic animation at her kid’s school.

Prakash: We should be teaching school kids about more relevant issues like conservation (big round of applause!)

Audience comment - Pradip, NID alumnus: Ex students of NID and the institute itself should put together a fund and select 3 films to fund every year, something like a residency programme.

Basav: I w ant to draw a clear line between storytelling and technology. Students should approach companies like sponsors like NVIDIA, IBM etc to sponsor their films.

Sekhar: Students also need to take responsibility. As an institute we do a lot of things, sending entries to competitions worldwide, filling out their forms. But then even they should be more proactive.

Dr. Kavita: I am a bit apprehensive that you want to make NID a deemed university. It might cramp your creative space. I share your desire that animation institutes become genuine institutes but a uniform syllabus will not work. Because then you cannot keep up with the newest trends. You would get bound by guidelines. Who will monitor whether the uniform syllabus is being followed? Who will impose? A national level syllabus might be limiting.

Binita: I fully subscribe to her views. It’s frightening to think what might happen. It is ultimately the people that make up an institute.

Audience - Prof. S Balaram: In most places, the institutes experiment and the industry follows them.It is the job of “professors” and educational institutes to look ahead and create new trends.

A final one line summation by the panelists:

Basav: Storytelling first. The rest will follow.

Arnab: Don’t be so scared of the commercial world. Jump into it and enjoy yourself

Binita: Stop saying “Mera Kya Hoga?” Just enjoy what you are doing.

Amit: (jokingly) Since everything else has been already said, I would like to do some free advertising here. Come join us at ettanimA studios.

Simi: Dont work for money. Just be mad and do what you enjoy. Be mad (she reitirated)

Vaibhav: If funds being raised and NID is doing something, i volunteer

Prakash: Let’s have this fest again

Anand: There’s a lot of exploration in NID student films but we need to see more character development. Students need to create more characters.

On that note, the stimulating discussion on Animation Education and Industry Trends ended.

A group of 10 students (Aishwarya, Arpit, Grishma, Mrinalini, Debjani, Dawa, Troy, Delwyn, Utsav and Rajesh.) is working on a Sand Animation film under the able guidance of Isabel Herguera. The collaborative effort was screened for the audience and the budding animators explained step-by-step how they went from concept to execution. What’s interesting is how the students were actively discouraged from using pencils and pushed to free their minds to fully exploit the medium- sand.

With permission from the Institute, we should soon be able to show a few stills from the film along with interesting tidbits on the making in the words of the students themselves.

Photos and details of the process of sand animation coming soon. Keep reading.

Coming up next…

A spontaneous workshop and a very important panel discussion on an issue that matters to everyone connected to the animation industry in any way. Stay tuned!

Greg Acuna
Jose Belmonte
Dr Kavita Punjabi
Nina Sabnani
Prakash Moorthy

Know more about the jury…

GREG ACUNA

Greg grew up in Los Angeles and attended the University of Southern California as an undergraduate where he took several film classes while earning his BA in Political Science. He received his MA in Playwriting from San Francisco State. He has written/directed one produced feature film, co-scripted two others, and been a script doctor on a number of projects. Other accomplishments include several productions of his plays, poetry published in four countries, composing songs, directing music videos, writing articles, designing commercial graphics, illustrating picture books for children and last year he completed writing a literary novel. He has taught screenwriting at the university level and been a consultant for Paramount Pictures, Exchange Cubed, Arthur Anderson and CNA.

Greg has traveled the world extensively having lived in quite a few countries. He moved to India in 2001 and now lives full-time in Goa where he recently started Pala Flicks to produce socially conscious content for television, films, web, and interactive media. The company’s first project is “Earthlings” an educational entertainment show for kids ages 6 to 11. It’s a TV Series and website with plans for interactive games, e-books, educational toys and much more. On a magical island live-action children and 3D animated aliens play games of cooperation, explore the world, sing, dance, do yoga, meditation and have wonderful adventures.

JOSE BELMONTE

Born in San Sebastian (Spain) in 1960, Jose demonstrated his interest for animals and nature at a very young age. These subjects have continued to serve as a major source of inspiration throughout his career. He studied painting at the University of Bilbao in the Basque Country in northern Spain where he earned a degree in Fine Arts and went on to study illustration at the Instituto Europeo di Design in Rome, Italy. Thus equipped, he began his career as an illustrator specializing in print media.

His award-winning work can be found on book covers, in newspapers and in magazines throughout Italy and Spain. He is the recipient of several awards from the Society of Newspaper Design (Los Angeles, USA) for his illustrations in the Spanish newspaper El Pais. His imagination and ironic humor have also lead to great success in the illustration of children’s literature.

DR. KAVITA PANJABI

Kavita Panjabi is a Reader in Comparative Literature, and also teaches Women’s Studies, at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. She received her B.A., M.A. and Ph.D degrees in Comparative Literature from Smith College, Jadavpur University and Cornell University respectively, and her current fields of interest are oral history, feminist studies, cultural studies, and Latin American literatures. She has been a recipient of the Mellon Fellowship, USA; the Sephis Post-doctoral Fellowship, the Netherlands; and the South Asia Writing Fellowship of the Social Science Research Council, New York.

Her publications include various essays on violence against women, the Gujarat experience, testimonial literature, oral narratives of women in the Tebhaga movement, and Latin American literatures. She has also published Old Maps and New: Legacies of the Partition, and was part of the three member team that visited Gujarat in 2002 and wrote The Next Generation: In the Wake of the Genocide – A Report on the Impact of the Gujarat Programme on Children and the Young.

As chairperson of the Focus Group on Gender Issues in Education for the 2005 National Curriculum Framework Review of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), she compiled the group’s position paper entitled Gender Issues in Education. As a member of the Council of Fellows of ARENA (Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives), she is currently involved in its South Asian Women’s Oral History Project. She is also a trustee of Aman, a Delhi based national institution for research and activism against violence, an Executive Committee member and Editor of the Indian Association of Women’s Studies (IAWS), and a member of the Pakistan India Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD).

NINA SABNANI

Nina Sabnani is an artist, animation director and illustrator based in Mumbai.

Until September 2007 she was a senior designer at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad where she taught in the areas of Animation and Visual Communication for twenty two years. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University, Vadodara and trained further at NID in Animation Film Design. She received a UNDP fellowship, which took her to study animation in Belgium, The Netherlands and UK. She was actively involved in setting up the first Advanced Entry Program in Animation at NID in 1985.

Nina pursued her MA at S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, NY, USA, as a recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship in 1997. At Syracuse she studied Multimedia and Television. On her return she initiated and developed the curriculum for a Post Graduate Programme in New Media, which commenced in 2001. In 2002 she organized Sutra, an International Conference on Storytelling in the Digital Age, jointly with MIT Media Lab and Media Lab Asia following which she was invited by Glorianna Davenport to MIT, USA, to speak about Experiences in Interactive Art. Her interest in primary education and storytelling led her to lead research projects for Ford Foundation at NID. Her last assignment at NID was heading the Post Graduate campus at Gandhinagar.

She has been teaching illustration, script writing and storyboarding, storytelling and simultaneously making films on diverse issues. She has experimented in transposing artistic styles into animation. Her film Shubh Vivah, uses the Madubani style of painting to dwell on the anti-dowry issue. She has also animated K G Subramanyan’s picture book, A Summer Story. Her model animation film on the birth of zero in India called All About Nothing was subsequently turned into an illustrated book for Tulika. Her most recent film “Mukand and Riaz” is an animated documentary about partition based on a true life story, in an unusual technique using textiles, embroidery and appliqué. She has illustrated several books for Tulika publishers, Chennai which have been translated in many languages.

She has been invited to serve as a pre-selection jury member for the Week with the Masters organized by TOONZ Animation, Trivadram in 2003 and as jury member at FRAMES organized by FICCI, Mumbai in March 2004 and 24FPS organized by MAAC in 2006 and 2007.

Currently, she is pursuing her Doctoral Research at the Industrial Design Centre, IIT Bombay. Her area of research is Storytelling models in India, with a particular focus on the Kaavad tradition of Rajasthan.

PRAKASH MOORTHY

Born - 28th April 1960 in Trivandrum India
1982 - Bachelor in fine Arts, (BA), College of fine Arts, Trivandrum, India
1984 - Master in Fine Arts (MA), M.S University of Baroda Gujarat, India. (First Class with distinction)
1989 - Diploma (Masters) in Visual Communication, Animation Design, National Institute of Design. India

1997 - Production Designer, “Raison de Cuer”, directed by Markus Imhoof, French/German feature film. Thelma films AG Zurich
1997-98 - Faculty, Animation film Design, Zed Institute of Design
1999 - Production Designer, VANAPRASTHAM, French/Malayalam feature film,
Directed by Shaji N. Karun. Pierre Arsoline Production Paris

2000 - Art Director, NISHAD, Hindi Feature film, Directed by Shaji N karun
2004 - Production Designer, KAAYA TARAN Hindi Feature film Directed by Shashi Kumar

Designer for Information and Interpretation centres for the Forest department at
Munnar, Rajamalai and Thekkady (Periyar Tiger Reserve)

2000 - Faculty at the IITC Trivandrum

2003 - Member, Kerala Lalit Kala Akademy

2002 - Faculty at the C Dit Trivandrum

2004 - Project Director “Unsung among Us” New Media project UNDP

2004 - Contributed short story to “Between the earth and the sky” Penguin books. India

2004 - Visiting Faculty, National Institute of Design, Ahemdabad, India. Since 1995

1997 - Travelled and worked in Zurich, Bern, Basle, Locarno, “Raison de Cuer”

1998 - Invited to Hiroshima International Animation film festival
August 1998

2000 - Award for Best Art Direction at Dubai Film Festival for the film “Vanaprastham”

2005 - Wrote “Animating an Indian Story” Biographical study of RamanLal Mistry. Published by NID

AT PRESENT - Head of animation Miditech (Galli Galii Sim Sim- Sesame street) New Delhi, India