INTENT & IMPACT
From less than 10 animators in the mid-90s to more than 250,000 professionals today, the burgeoning Indian AVGC industry has indeed come a long way. We are growing at a robust rate of 20 per cent plus annually and have become one of the leading backend hubs for the world. We have built a critical mass of talent and ability. We gross a handsome $1.32bn+ in earnings, largely due to our advantage of the ‘wage arbitrage’ factor. However, when compared to the global industry size of $800bn, we are inconsequential with 0.2 per cent of the global pie. We remain largely the world’s back office, an end credits scroll in Hollywood’s animated movies, and still don’t have a single console game success story to brag about. We are way down the value chain, a commoditised service provider for the most part, with hardly any original IPs to talk about. However, if we make the right moves, we can achieve stupendous growth in unprecedented times.
SO WHAT’S MISSING?
Education: While Individual studios and creative entrepreneurs are tasting success, our education in the AVGC space is negligent and sub-standard for the most part, promoting skill development to provide for the back-end workforce, rather than nurture artistic temperament and creative excellence. Our talent doesn’t know how to create indelible stories and storytelling forms that are localised can travel the world over and have universal appeal, besides being saleable, evergreen IPs.
Industry: Our studios excel in their individual ambitions, but the industry is far from being a unified force which pitches and roots for Brand India. As an industry, we are individualistic, unlike other countries like China, Korea and many more that are tasting big-time success due to their collective growth mindset.
Markets: We don’t understand the business of International animation. We don’t understand the distribution, marketing and pitching. Although we hold great promise and a future, the world still looks at us as a commodity service provider, low down the value chain.
The government has envisaged that the AVGC industry needs to climb up to $40bn (five per cent of the global pie) in the next five years. Is it possible? How do we change our trajectory to achieve this?
ENTER ANIVERSE AND VISUAL ARTS FOUNDATION:
Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come – Victor Hugo.
AVAF is not the solution, but the catalyst. It is not the executor, but it promises to be the enabler. It does not even claim to help achieve the ambitious $40bn. target, but endeavours to empower the industry in impacting India’s global perception. AniMela is an AVGC festival, but more than that, it’s a mission.
Through our flagship event – AniMela, India’s first truly International Animation, Gaming, XR, VFX and Comics platform, we plan not just to expose our young talented artists, animation filmmakers, game developers, technologists and storytellers to the world’s best films, games and experiential content, but also create a marketplace where they can pitch to producers, financiers, broadcasters, gaming companies and all stakeholders to create world-beating content that will stamp India’s creative and innovative presence world over. Besides this, AVAF will host workshops and masterclasses each month.
Who are we: The founders of AVAF are a dedicated, eclectic bunch of people who are a combination of industry pioneers, renowned educators, leading festival curators and event managers of significant brands. We believe in serving the AVGC industry by hosting a world-class event that has the potential to become a magnet to the world community.
Partners: Our partners include Annecy (the world’s largest animation festival, also known as the Cannes of Animation) and its famed marketplace MIFA, which will help us with curation, mentoring, jury, films, processes and pipelines. We have the blessings of the AVGC industry leaders (many are on our panel as advisory board members), studios and most importantly the government.
We envision that the best global talent, mentors and prodigies will converge in India to participate in AniMela. We are committed to ensure that the event and the experience will be transformative in its impact and optics to establish Brand India as a respectable, serious world leader in the AVGC space. AniMela is truly an event by the industry, for the industry.
Support us, to support yourself
AniMela Festival is tentatively scheduled for November-December 2023. The Festival will be launched on 9 February 2023. Please refer to the image to know more about the public events in February. To know more about AniMela and the Aniverse & Visual Arts Foundation, subscribe to animela.in. Follow them on Instagram and Facebook @animelaindia. Write to them at animelaindia@gmail.com.
Checkout the schedule:
