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!

The trio comprising of Rohit, Avinash and Akhila review a different movie every few weeks and their podcasts can be downloaded from their blog twoandahalfiyers.blogspot.com. This is their very first review of an animated film and though their podcasts can get quite lengthy, I highly recommend them.

Their reviews are witty, tongue-in-cheek and well-rounded, covering every aspect- right from the story, the cast (for live-action films) to the direction and the film-making itself.

A preview…

“This week, the Two and a Half Iyers investigate the curious incident of the dogs in the night-time. Jugal Hansraj’s directorial debut is India’s first big-budget-anthrophmorphic-talking-animal-bollywood-extravaganza, Roadside Romeo.”

Download the podcast here.

It is encouraging to see our young artists observe, analyze, express and discuss their views and use the internet to share them with the world. I wish them all the best!

Thanks Akhila, Avinash and Rohit for sharing the podcast with AAA and for mentioning AAA on your blog.