Oscar winning animation filmmaker and two time Academy award nominee, Michael Dudok De Wit happened to visit Mumbai India for a masterclass conducted by him at the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) 2020.
Studio Eeksaurus tries to bring internationally acclaimed animators, film makers or their complete retrospective in collaboration with the Films Division at every edition of MIFF. Last edition witnessed Russian animator-filmmaker Ivan Maximov and the entire package of Koji Yamamura’s retrospective.
MIFF 2020 had a brimming crowd on both the days of masterclass and retrospective of Konstantin Bronzit, two time academy award nominee for best animated film and Michael, who took everyone through the technical processes involved in making of all his films, from genesis of the seed idea to completion. He also elaborated about the meanings and the presence of spirituality in his work including signs and symbols, metaphors and imageries.
Michael shared a very important message at the masterclass, stating that sensitivity and curiosity, both are essential for an artist to grow, evolve and elevate.
During the visit to Mumbai for MIFF, Michael also visited Studio Eeksaurus to see the kind of work the studio does and was pleasantly surprised to see a studio that just doesn’t do only cartoon animations.
Studio Eeksaurus founder Suresh Eriyat said, “I think such people should come more often. We should interact with them, and ideate with them. We should support our organisations to get us more experts. This is the only way we can upgrade ourselves and improve the quality of Indian animation.”
At a gripping 150-minute session at MIFF 2020, Michael patiently answered everyone’s questions and talked about Father and Daughter, his celebrated feature the Red Turtle, and a collaboration with Studio Ghibli.
