Animation Masters Summit (AMS), the flagship event from Toonz Animation Studios will be held at Park Centre in Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram on 12 and 13 May. The much-acclaimed event is making a comeback as an in-person event this year as the last three editions were held online due to pandemic-related restrictions.
AMS is a not-for-profit event that seeks to bring together the greatest minds in the media and entertainment industry and is hosted every year for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) professionals and aspirants. The theme for this year’s event is ‘Reimagining Entertainment: Now and Beyond’. AMS is the platform where veterans in this field are invited to share their experience and inspire young professionals.
The masters for AMS 2023 are a Spanish film director and producer Damian Perea, renowned voice-over artist Darrpan Mehta, creator and storyteller Siddharth Maskeri, visual development artist and production designer of Baahubali fame Rupali Gatti, managing director of Framestore India Akhauri P Sinha, dean and assistant professor from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune Dr Milind Damle, and CEO of Gamitronics Rajat Ohja. The master sessions will be for about one hour, which includes 45 mins of masters talk and 15 mins of Q&A.
Started as “Week with the Masters” in 1999, the founding year of the Toonz, AMS had hosted highly reputable speakers and masters, such as Academy Award and BAFTA nominee Rob Coleman, Academy Award nominee Bill Plympton, Academy Award Nominee and BAFTA winner Shekhar Kapur, Academy Award winner Resul Pookutty, and others over the years.
The summit, co-sponsored by innovative software solutions provider Toon Boom will also honour the late Bill Dennis, one of the founders of Toonz and the architect behind the Animation Masters Summit with the ‘Legend of the Indian Animation’ award posthumously.
“Animation Masters Summit (AMS) is an integral part of Toonz’s legacy and the event is Toonz’s way of giving back to the creative community. The Indian AVGC sector has started getting attention from the government as it has huge potential and can provide immense employment opportunities. AMS will inspire young professionals and aspirants to become part of this journey and provide deep insights into the AVGC sector and opportunities,” commented Toonz Media Group chief executive officer P Jayakumar.