The Annecy International Animation Film Festival serves as a global beacon of creativity, drawing participants from 103 countries; from Mexico to Chile, Spain to Estonia, and across the African continent, Turkey to Japan, the Nordic region, Australia, and Southeast Asia. At its heart, the festival celebrates diverse cultures through animation, showcasing the best of global talent. This year was a focus on Portugal.
For India, the festival holds profound importance as its AVGC (animation, VFX, gaming, comics) sector stands at the brink of significant growth, supported by pivotal government initiatives. Two senior officials from the central and state government – Vrunda Manohar Desai (IAS), joint secretary (films) in Government of India’s (GoI) Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, and Dr. Ekroop Caur (IAS), secretary, Department of Electronics IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka (GoK) – attended Annecy 2024, along with Sharath Bachegowda – Karnataka MLA & chairman of KEONICS. Their presence aimed to boost morale, support artists and studios, and foster international collaborations.
Speaking of her agenda for the Annecy Film Festival, Desai said, “Given Annecy’s status as the world’s foremost animation-focused event, we foresee substantial B2B and B2G (business to government) interactions. We are also promoting the first edition of World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES), scheduled for 20 to 24 November 2024, alongside the 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI). We look forward to the participation of top creative minds and the international directors and producers from here.” WAVES intends to bring the world to India in an effort to create a seminal annual event for the AVGC industry serving the world Indian content and services.
The Indian animation industry shone bright at Annecy 2024 with three films in competition across different categories. Among them, Govinda Sao’s Maatitel received the Lotte Reiniger Award in the Graduation Films category. Of the four pitches part of Namaste MIFA, Pari Satarkar’s short film project Rising Tides won the Animation du Monde prize. “Through India’s presence at the Annecy festival and MIFA market, the country aims to foster international partnerships, promote its animation and VFX capabilities, and create opportunities for Indian animators, studios, and content creators,” added Desai.
ABAI president and Technicolor Group Asia Pacific managing director Biren Ghose said, “Getting global attention on the Indian pitches amongst 125,000 entries is a considerable achievement.”
Highlighting India’s commitment to fostering a conducive business environment, Desai pointed to streamlined filming permissions and incentives for international co-productions through the government’s Film Facilitation Office. “Indian storytelling and animation hold immense global potential,” she emphasised, affirming the government’s dedication to nurturing the AVGC sector. Talking about establishing infrastructure like the Centre of Excellence (CoE) to develop skill sets necessary for AVGC industry, she shared, “We invite international stakeholders to curate skill development courses and to avail the opportunity to incubate new tech and methods for and from the CoE.”
The India Pavilion at Annecy 2024, curated by the state of Karnataka’s AVGC organisation ABAI and the Government of Karnataka, showcased the state’s leadership in the AVGC sector, with the spectrum of incentives, grants and other support to companies in the sector. Dr Caur revealed at India Pavilion, “Our policy takes a life cycle approach, wherein we look at each stage of growth of an artist, studio, startup, or tech company working in animation. So every aspect of it has been covered to ensure that Bengaluru (Karnataka’s capital) becomes an end-to-end animation hub. Our incentives are like a top-up to the incentives you get from GoI.”
Ghose added, “ABAI, through a variety of grants from the Karnataka state across activities of the CoE, offer ideas to POC funds, plug and play infrastructure, a global B2B connect and production/IP development incentives. There already exist use cases and references for each of these segments.”
The CoE in Karnataka has co-working spaces with highly equipped post-production infrastructure for photogrammetry & motion capture, production capabilities, as well as tools to produce high-quality content. In their early years when companies find it difficult to make ends meet, the CoE is a big advantage, helping avoid upfront investments and cash burn for startups and SMEs.
Dr. Caur invited industry stakeholders to Karnataka’s AVGC ecosystem, highlighting upcoming events like the sixth edition of Bengaluru GAFX which is set for 26-28 February 2025, and the 27-year-old tech event Bangalore Tech Summit (BTS), scheduled for November 2024. “For this year’s edition of the BTS, we shall be curating AVGC-specific sessions and see participation from the industry, government, and academia,” she added.
Bachegowda further remarked, “The scale of what we’ve seen in Annecy is incredible. It’s been eye-opening to witness such diverse and brilliant work – from 2D and stop motion to 3D. Bengaluru aims to replicate this success, establishing itself as Asia’s AVGC hub.”
“It is overwhelming to see such young content creators from India and around the world at Annecy. And we believe that India will keep showcasing its creative prowess at the festival in the coming years,” concluded Desai.
From India, large and burgeoning studios alike, including Technicolor Group , Zebu Animation Studios, Assemblage Entertainment, philmCGI, Powerkids Entertainment, Saffronic, The Mill, Studio Eeksaurus, Hitech Animation, Citrus Ink Studios and more attended the Annecy Festival 2024. The booth was a centre point for meetings, providing “Brand India” momentum which was greatly appreciated by all participants.
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