What a day for Indian animation! Kolkata based animation studio, Ghost Animation’s short film, Wade has been officially selected at the Annecy Festival 2020 making it the only entry from India for the ‘Best Animated Short Film’ category.
The Ghost Animation team shared the news on their social media handles. Wade has been written and directed by animators Upamanyu Bhattacharyya and Kalp Sanghvi. Elated by the selection of Wade, Sanghvi said, “We’re really happy and thank the organisers! Really honoured to be a part of the festival. We thank all the artists and friends who have helped us through this. Despite the circumstances, we’re really thrilled and happy to be able to take our film to viewers around the world.”
Bhattacharyya lauded Annecy for organising the festival online, “We’re thankful to the organisers, especially that the Annecy Festival has managed to organise an online edition at such short notice in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the circumstances, we’re glad to be able to take our film to viewers around the world, while they stay safe and isolated.
Wade is a horrifying, eye-opening animated short about the adverse effects of climate change. It showcases a climate change nightmare set in Kolkata, few years hence, ravaged by sea level rise, where a group of humans and an ambush of tigers face off on the flooded streets.
Earlier, Bhattacharyya revealed to us why Wade is an important film, “Wade taps into tangible deep-rooted fears that we have. Climate change is a reality, and so are its effects. Low lying areas like Kolkata, the Sundarbans and more will soon be underwater: it’s a scientific certainty. In Wade, the sea-level has risen and the ice-caps have melted leaving no options for the residents of Kolkata to abandon the city. The Sundarban dwellers who couldn’t, have migrated to the city, but so have the tigers.”
This 10 minute film was encouraged by noted author Amitav Ghosh’s The Great Derangement in the way it validated a lot of its narrative.
Currently the world is experiencing a huge crisis in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a human being, I sincerely hope that we don’t invite another which is an even more dangerous one. And films like Wade might help to make people realise that why we shouldn’t take Nature for granted.
