The Animation Society of India (TASI) has returned with the 16th edition of one of the oldest animation festivals, Anifest India. The upcoming event will be held from 10-11 February in MIT-WPU, Kothrud, Pune.
With its focus on creative content and strengthening traditional topics in animation, this year the festival will host as many as 55 eminent speakers including Oscar nominated director Sanjay Patel, Chaitanya Chinchlikar (Whistling Woods International), Harsh Borah (Milk VFX London), Somneel Saha & Priyam Ghosh (CreatOn Games), Ishan Shukla (filmmaker), Advait Nemlekar, CV Rao (Annapurna Studios), BN Vichar (Technicolor Games), Anand Bhanushali (philmCGI), Suresh Eriyat (Studio Eeksaurus), Upamanyu Bhattacharya and so on.
AT the event, animation lovers, industry insiders, young enthusiasts and upcoming artists can enjoy some great making of sessions such as: Behind the Canvas Sri Aurobindo: A New Dawn by Suresh Eriyat, Making of a Magnum Opus Ponniyan Selvan by Sanjiv Naik (NYVFXWaala), Metaverse Odyssey: Crafting the future world by Shivam Dhoot (Gamitronics), VFX Transformation of RRR Script to Screen by Srinivas Mohan and so on.
Not limiting itself to animation, the festival includes creative arts and technology. Anifest India 2024 will showcase interesting case studies, chats and panels discussions covering topics like Business of Freelance & Independent studios; Monetise your IP; Vision, Approach, Challenges & Solutions: Meet the indie filmmakers, and so on.
Tasi’s Ram Mohan Viewer’s Choice Awards (known as Viewer’s Choice Awards before 2019) honours students and professionals. This year, the organisation received an overwhelming number of entries across its three categories – Commissioned Films, Independent Professional Films and Student Films. Experts have reviewed the entries and selected the best of them. These films will be screened at Anifest India, post which the audience will get to vote. The winners will be selected based on the maximum votes for a film.
This year, Anifest has followed a new format with parallel tracks in a new venue and in a new city. Earlier, the event was mostly organised in Mumbai. This new venue will have at least six tracks including exhibits, pitching sessions, workshops, discussions and so on running parallely.