Asifa India recently celebrated International Animation Day ’22 with students and professionals by organising its main event in Indore. The association celebrated this day with a host of events including panel discussions, presentation, master classes, job fair, etc on 4 November 2022.
The event commenced with lamp lighting followed by a welcome song by a mesmerising dance troupe who presented Ganesh vandana. During the inaugural session, Asifa India presented a memento with the official launch of ASIFA subchapters in North at Delhi, East at Kolkata, West at Mumbai and Nashik and South at Bengaluru. Ramesh Ruia from Kolkata, Indira Gupta from Bengaluru, Devashri Vora from Mumbai, Madhavi Pagariya from Nashik, Vrinda Sood, Nida Arshia and Shalini Sharma from Delhi received the memento to become founder members of respective sub chapters.
Saraswathi Vani Balgam, the founding member of ASIFA India and Dancing Atoms director, flew all the way from the United States to grace the event. She announced Sanjay Khimesara as new president of Asifa India. Vani continues to provide leadership and guidance to Asifa India as president emeritus &\and chief patron.
The ASIFA India executive council members currently include Saraswathi Vani Balgam, Sanjay Khimesara, R.Vinod, Siva Kumar Kasetti, Sesha Prasad and R.K. Polina.
The chief guest for the occasion was PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry New Delhi assistant secretary general Shalini Sharma. Sharma has served as CII Higher Education head. She spoke about the importance of the sunrise sector of AVGC in India and opportunity for India to become a global hub.
The star studded event had over 12 experts who participated in various knowledge sessions. The expert sessions included masterclass by DNEG India animation head Ramchandra Birje and a storytelling workshop by Saraswathi Vani Balgam where she awarded animation student Akshita Mandpe Rs 50,000 to bring her story idea to life. Following this was an interactive panel discussion by Aadya Raj, Nida Arshia, Rounak Magoo moderated by Asifa India’s core committee member Siva Kumar Kassetty giving practical insights to students on showreel, resume and interview processes in the industry and a masterclass on building an animation storyline by animation writer Praveen Fernandes.
Up next was a presentation on VFX Case Study & Behind the Scene from The Yin Yang Master by Tau Films CFX Supervisor Anubhav Pandey. Then Citrus Ink Studios CEO Vrinda Sood delivered a talk on her inspiring journey of starting and running a successful animation studio through her ‘Citrus Story’. This followed with a session titled ‘Mesmerizing Magic’ from Asifa India’s Women Creators Program with Unreal Engine with Nida Arshia, Raunak Magoo, Aadya Raj, Bhavpreet Ghai Talwalkar and Vrinda Sood. The panelists showcased and discussed behind the scenes from their recently created short films under a fellowship based Women creators program by Asifa India in partnership with Epic Games.
Nearly 1,000 students and professionals participated in the event which also saw a number of companies participating in a job fair showcasing a gamut of job opportunities of the media and entertainment industry by MESC. The fair attracted leading recruiters including Kraft Creation, Lakshya Digital, Pixxzzoo Studio and so on. Few masterclasses and Boot camps were organised at University Auditorium DAVV for the Students during three days of festivals and students participated in a lot of cultural and creative activities by having stalls and decorations at the venue.
Asifa India was supported by Annecy Film Festival, France to showcase ‘Best of 2022 Programs’. The association is grateful to CITIA CEO for providing the access from Best of Annecy 2022 program on the occasion of the Animation Day in Indore.
Each year, Asifa India invites entries from professionals and students for Annual Asifa India Awards of Excellence(AOE) as a part of International Animation Day celebration. AOE aims to recognise and celebrate the best talent in the art of Animation. For IAD’22 nominations for Awards of Excellence have been finalised as per verdict of esteemed panel of jury members and it will be announced shortly during upcoming International Animation Day fests.
Eminent Jury Members of AOE’22 included Yashraj Films VFX producer Sherry Bharda, IIT Delhi Department of Design assistant professor Charu Monga, NYC Animation Industry Council member, Lisa Goldman and Sri Lanka’s animation film designer Poornima Meegammana.
Asifa India partnered with India Joy in Hyderabad and conducted its International Animation Day on 1 November 2022 during the VFX summit HICC with sessions on animation, visual effects, gaming and computer graphics. Hyderabad IAD saw amazing sessions including Go Behind the Scene of Oscar Awarded Film Dune by Jigesh Gajjar (DNEG India), CG Characters in Live Action by Tau Films CG Supervisor Anubhav Pandey and Mesmerizing Magic from Asifa India’s Women Creators Program with UE with Saraswathi Vani Balgam, Serena Dhillon, Geetika Dayala, Srikeerthi and Pratima Pal. Asifa India’s IAD-Hyderabad also saw a session on the Inspiring Journey of Indian Creative Artists by Trilok Potluri and Manoj Chowdhary (Pixalot Labs) at IAD ’22, Hyderabad.
Asifa India’s IAD had sponsors including Unreal, DNEG, Creative Multimedia, Dancing Atoms, Arena Animation, IACG Multimedia, Supporters including AVGC-XR, MP , Horizon Institute of Design, Animagic India, KVD Academy and Destiny Logic. The partners included Women In Animation, Animation Xpress, MESC, CTN, Annecy, AWN, Siggraph Asia, Animation Magazine, TASI, View Conference, VFX Xpress, Siggraph Bengaluru Chapter and Indore-AVGC MP Supporters- EMRC-DAVV, SVVV, Arena Geeta Bhawan, MAAC, ZICA, Kraft Creations, Career College, Bhopal, Arena Bhawarkua, Virtual Voyage & JLU, Bhopal. For Hyderabad IACG Multimedia & Creative Multimedia Group were the local supporters.
Asifa India plans to expand its reach pan India and is organising IAD ’22 in 13 major cities in India during next three months with new sub-chapters. Active sub-chapters in India include locations like Indore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi, Kolkata, Bilaspur, Nashik, Gurgaon, Noida, New Bombay, Chennai and Chandigarh. Upcoming ones include Vijaywada and Bhopal.