INFOCOM EME Awards’ deadline for submission has been extended to 10th Nov 2011. Organized by Anand Bazaar Patrika and ASSOCHAM, INFOCOM EME Awards will be held in conjunction with annual INFOCOM conference at ITC Sonar in Calcutta on 10th Dec 2011 and will honour excellence in the field of Indian and International Animation and VFX.
For nine years now, Businessworld, published by ABP, has been organizing INFOCOM, it’s annual flagship technology & business event, comprising a conference and exhibition that aims to bring together business and technology on the same platform. INFOCOM joined hands with ASSOCHAM to present the first edition of the Media & Entertainment Forum and the Excellence in Media & Entertainment (EME) Awards at the previous edition of the event. The M & E Forum is a daylong conference, which brings together stalwarts from the M & E Industry and IT and it ends with the EME Awards.
Speaking to AnimationXpress.com ABP’s Kali Krishna Mahapatra shared, “The EME Awards has been an initiative to recognize excellence in the field of Media & Entertainment. The objective of EME Awards is to identify and recognize outstanding contributions in the field of Animation and VFX which has become an essential part of the Media and Entertainment business and to provide greater encouragement and impetus to the players in this industry.”
The Jury panel of EME Awards 2011 has a mix of Indian and International stalwarts in the field of Animation and VFX, namely Govind Nihalani, Indian Film Director; Gitanjali Rao, Animation Film Director; Max Howard, Global Consultant – Animation Industry and Founder, Max Howard Consulting Group; Tim Mostert, Creator, Speedy; Nishith Takia, Co-Founder & Director, Krayon Pictures; Sujata Dev, Co-Chairperson, ASSOCHAM – Entertainment & Media Committee and Gurbir Singh, Sr. Associate Editor, Businessworld.
Last year being the first edition of the EME Awards the entries were restricted to national players. Awards were given out in various categories for 2D and 3D films. A special award was also given to the technical team for restoration of Mrinal Sen’s film “Khandahar”. The original print of Shabana Azmi-Naseeruddin Shah starrer had got damaged but after restoration, it was screened at Cannes International Film Festival in 2010. At INFOCOM a special screening of this film took place showing pre and post restoration versions. The jury panel comprised of stalwarts and industry veterans like John J Lee of Whistling Woods, Merzin Tavaria of Prime Focus and Ketan Mehta of Maya Movies.
Sujata Dev, Co-Chairperson, ASSOCHAM – Entertainment & Media Committee shares, “ We started EME award last year, with the objective of giving morale boost to a sector which is young and growing rapidly. We were amazed to see the response. We received 200+ entries in different categories. This year we decided to broaden our competition by opening it internationally. Five nations have already participated and enquiries are pouring in.”
“India as a nation has great talent pool and the industry is well equipped with the latest technologies. As a nation of ‘Youth‘ the adaptability factor is also high. This three ingredients talent, technology and adaptability, as a combination can work miracles. Today we find India doing a lot of outsourced work for the international markets. What we need is to create Indian origin icons, which are internationally acceptable, while owning the IPR. This will pave the path to move up the value chain”, she further added.