Special sessions by IT & Entertainment stalwarts, presentations by Animation, VFX and Gaming Industry champions coupled with new launches, the 1st ever annual ABAI fest truly packed a punch, and in the process made a new record for attendance for any animation event in the country. 831 registered delegates, add to that the Sponsors, Exhibitors, Association Members, Partners, Guests and Speakers, and the total goes beyond a staggering 1,000 strong attendance! Way to go!
What was most significant about this event which began early Sunday Morning, and went on till 7.30 pm in the evening was the enthusiasm of all involved. Be it the students who hungrily devoured the case studies and asked pertinent questions (but for a few exceptions), be it the organizers who put the show up together in just a month’s time, the sponsors and partners that supported the event, or be it the guests and presenters who came from across India to share their view points and expertise.
In a symbolic gesture two students from the audience were randomly chosen to join the ABAI members and special guests, showman Subhash Ghai, Infosys Mohandas Pai and Nasscom’s Rajiv Vaishnav for lighting the ceremonial lamp. The message was clear, students are tomorrow’s artists and they matter.
Kickstarting proceedings with an opening speech and welcome to the guests, ABAI Chairman Ashish Kulkarni shared, “I am thankful to the sponsors and speakers who play the most important role other then the organisers. The confirmations for sponsorship were last frozen on Aug 31. We had very little time to package it. But hats off to the sponsors that they managed to come down and are exhibiting as well have offered to give prizes to encourage the participants”
ABAI’s Chetan S shared, “We are very happy to host the ABAI Fest and believe me, it is a great feeling to see that the great day has come and we are having a full house”
The eventful day boasted of many highlights. Amongst them being the deafening audience applause to Subhash Ghai’s movie montage; the HR perspective shared by Infosys Mohandas Pai; the assurance by Dr Anup Poojary that Bangalore’s animation industry as well as ABAI had the support of the Karanataka Government; Intel’s presentation on the new era of digital entertainment where technology advancement was exponential not incremental; NASSCOM’s Rajiv Vaishnav’s spontaneous recital of an Urdu poem; Ittina’s philosophy on art; The launch of TASI Bangalore; the animation business session; Indian Animation superstar Vaibhav Kumaresh on stage; Surprise ABAI trophy presentation by Subhash Ghai to the DIGICON winning Anirights team; Dhruva’s presentation of the gaming case study; the VFX sessions by VCL, R&H and EFX; the big rush at the Animation Xpress.com caricature corner; the lucky draws and most of all the enthusiasm of the audience as the day rolled by.
Even as the conference and case studies went on, the exhibitors too had a lot of footfalls especially during the breaks. Intel, Digital Waves, Ample Technologies, WWIL, CG Tantra, Animation Xpress solicited quite a lot of enquiries.
ABAI President Dr Suparno Chaudhari shared, “This is just the beginning and we promise to bring in many more exciting events and networking for the benefit of Animation, VFx and Gaming professionals of South India. Possibly our next event will be more focused and specialized. We invite all of you to be part of this exciting journey”
“We are very happy with ABAI for organizing this event for us” exclaimed Akash, a Bangalore based student who said that whenever he read about things like Anifest and CG meetups on Animation Xpress, he always wondered when Bangalore would have its own animation events and functions. “Thanks to ABAI, we finally have one” he shared.
The Intel Digital Waves lucky draw
Arathi, an engineering student said that she was at ABAI Fest because her younger brother who was an animation student had got her along. “I Love watching cartoons on Cartoon Network, and ever since my brother has joined the class, I have really gotten interested in how all this is made”
One sentiment that a majority of the visitors shared was that next year they wanted the show to be a 2 day event and that the case study sessions be more elaborate.
A majority of studio heads and Industry professionals that visited ABAI were impressed by the strong turnout, this in spite of major traffic problems on the day of the event. “This is quite an impressive turnout. And the sessions were also quite nice” shared VCL Marketing Manager Bhaskar Dutt.
Speaking post event to Animation Xpress.com, Chairman Ashish Kulkarni shared, “I feel relieved today, although tired as we had very less time to organize the whole thing. We had several pressures at the time the inaugural session was going on. I was compeering the session and our members constantly kept coming asking if they could allow more participants then the capacity. We had to take a call and tell the last 70-80 participants that they may have no seats. The students and professionals were so excited that they came in and sat on the staircase till the last session. I am quite amazed by the drive, passion and interest that the new animation, gaming and VFX enthusiasts have”
“I am glad that every single speaker from the day’s schedule was well prepared and was present on time. We have not missed even a single speaker from the published list. That shows the commitment of the industry professionals”
“We had already put up the last exit banners with the Thank you note and welcoming all the participants, Speakers, sponsor’s and exhibitors for ABAI FEST 2007. We would like to do ABAI FEST 2007 for two days and with lots of case studies + screenings” shared ABAI’s Dr Suparno Chaudhari. “The ABAI event calendar will be released soon” he concluded.
The most impressive thing about the event was the energy and effort put in by all concerned. The organizers shunned sleep for nearly all of the last week before the event, the students and visitors all of 1000+ reached on time on a Sunday morning!, the exhibitors spent quite some time, resource and energy sprucing up their stalls 36 hours in advance, and the speakers too actually flew done and made sure they kept their appointments. The sponsors put their faith in the organizers and invested in the show in spite of a few days left to organize.
The point to note here is that all this augurs well for Indian animation. The fact that players from across the eco system are ready to stretch themselves just so they can network, or learn, share or build brands is a definite indication that the nucleus has reached a boil and there will be explosive growth in Indian animation in the coming 12 months and things will have changed forever, for the better!