Pune (Maharashtra) [India], 30 January, 2024: The debut edition of AniMela, 23 January 2024 – India’s first-ever international Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) Festival took place at Mumbai’s National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) from 19th – 21st January.
The main objective of the festival launched by Aniverse & Visual Arts Foundation was to empower the Indian AVGC-XR sector by providing a platform for mentorship, education, film screenings, experiential zones, and markets for Indian IPs, and to promote young, emerging talent to be able to take their stories to the world.
Conducted in partnership with the Information & Broadcasting Ministry of the Government of India and the premium festival for animators – the Annecy International Animation Festival in France, AniMela provided a unique stage for local and international artists, animation filmmakers, game developers, technologists, and storytellers to converge, collaborate, showcase their work, and contribute to the growth of this dynamic industry.
AniMela showcased an array of international award-winning animation feature films and a diverse range of animated shorts, including features like ‘The Peasants’, ‘Slide’, ‘Josep’, ‘Calamity’, ‘Unicorn Wars’, ‘Hokkyoku Hyakkaten No – Concierge San’ ‘Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman’ and Short Films such as ‘India Collection’ and ‘Queer Collection’.
It also hosted workshops, panel discussions and masterclasses with Indian and international stalwarts from the animation, VFX, and gaming industries like Annecy Festival Director Mickaël Marin, Annecy Film Market Director Veronique Encrenaz, VFX Supervisor Srinivas Mohan.
Attending the festival, Lexicon Institute of Media & Animation (Lexicon IMA) interacted with comic book creators and animators, and filmmakers like Milind D. Shinde of 88 Pictures to discuss his Indian masterpiece ‘Bandits of Golak’- a Star-Wars story with an Indian Twist. Lexicon IMA also deep-dived into the secrets behind the VFX of monumental films RRR and Baahubali with the accomplished team of Srinivas Mohan, the VFX supervisor, and Shobu Yarlagadda, the producer. Lexicon IMA also discussed the potential of extended reality with Ashwin D Silva, managing director, of Accenture.
Pune Times Mirror, a part of the Lexicon Group was a media partner for the festival.
