A Milestone for the Indian AVGC-XR industry: India's First-Ever AVGC-XR Festival AniMela Shines a Spotlight on Indian Talent in its Debut Edition
(including gaming, comics & XR), and professional networking opportunities
India-wide release, 24th January 2024: Mumbai's National Film Development Corporation
(NFDC) transformed into a haven of creativity and innovation with the debut edition of AniMela -
India's first-ever international Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality
(AVGC-XR) festival - brought forth by Aniverse & Visual Arts Foundation (AVAF). From 19th
January 2023 to 21st January 2023, AniMela was a unique stage for local and international artists,
animation filmmakers, game developers, and storytellers to converge, collaborate, network,
showcase their work and contribute to the growth of the dynamic AVGC-XR scene.
The AVAF partnered with the Government of India (Information & Broadcasting Ministry) and
the Annecy International Animation Festival in France to bring AniMela to Mumbai. The festival
witnessed an overwhelming 3000 attendees flock to the venues across the span of 3 days. Some of
the biggest names in the AVGC-XR and other related spaces also graced the festival with their
presence. This included filmmakers Ashutosh Gowariker, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Vaibhav
Kumaresh (Emmy-nominated animation filmmaker), Munjal Shroff (Co-founder of Graphiti Media),
Nina Sabnani, Gitanjali Rao (theatre actress and animator), Sai Abishek (Head of Factual &
Lifestyle Cluster, South Asia - Warner Bros. Discovery), and Biren Ghose (President/Country Head
of Technicolour Creative Studios).
Vikas Kharge (Principal Secretary to CM, Govt of Maharashtra) with his family, Aseem Gupta
(Principal Secretary, Urban Development, Govt. of Maharashtra), and Prithul Kumar (Joint
Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt of India) were also present.
The festival kicked off with a grand opening ceremony that saw guests like Shariq Patel (Head of Zee
Studios), Ashish Kulkarni (Chairman of FICCI for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics
Forum), Jaya Bachchan, Mr Fernando Heredia Noguer (Consul General of Spain in Mumbai), Jean-
Marc Sere-Charlet (Consul General of France in Mumbai), Chaitanya Chinchlikar (VP, Whistling
Woods International) and Saeed Akhtar Mirza in attendance. It commenced with its first day at the
New Excelsior Theatre in Fort with the screening of Sultana's Dream, an internationally acclaimed
animated film.
What followed were numerous engaging full-house sessions spanning each aspect of the AVGC-XR
landscape as part of the festival's knowledge-sharing efforts like Reza Riahi's Sketch to Screen
Animation masterclass and Johanna Goldschmidt's Script to Screen Animation Writing
masterclass. Several workshops, panel discussions and masterclasses with Indian and international
industry stalwarts provided glimpses of work-in-progress and behind-the-scenes of prominent
animation and VFX projects like RRR and Bahubali, amongst many others. These included sessions
on character designing, a phonotrope workshop, a pixilation masterclass, a workshop on navigating
the animation film market, showrunners workshop (creating TV series in 30 minutes), a panel
discussion on making indie VFX and animation films in India, and much more. Students from schools
across India, like the NID, Ahmedabad, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology,
Bengaluru, Whistling Woods International, Mumbai, and Rubika Pune, participated in these
sessions.
AniMela also brought the Annecy Festival's prestigious International MIFA Campus (IMC) for the
first time ever to the country to continue educating and nurturing the potential of young Indian
talents in this space. The IMC is supported by the French Institute in India and Rubika School, Pune.
As a part of IMC, five projects were selected from over 60 animation project holders for this exclusive
4-day workshop conducted by industry luminaries animation filmmaker Reza Riahi (who worked
on the Academy Award-nominated film Breadwinner), France-based Screenwriter Johanna
Goldschmidt and Animation Producer Delphine Nicolini. The selected five project pitches were
presented at the AniMela-IMC Pitch, where the jury consisted of filmmakers Ashutosh Gowariker
and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and the IMC Mentors, who awarded project holders Isha
Mangalmurti and Shreeya Wagh with the trophy for ‘Best Pitch’, for their project Lala.
To truly celebrate the industry and give attendees a holistic, enriching experience, AniMela also
screened an extraordinary array of international award-winning animation features and short films
from across the globe - from the USA and Canada to France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland to
Hungary, Slovakia to Japan. The world premiere of Lucky Dog was a house-full session with its
director Ujwal Nair and producer Indou Theagrajan engaging in a post-screening Q&A, while Bart de
Jong, Consul General of the Netherlands, presented a short film collection at the Diversity & Identity:
Dutch Shorts Programme.
Accompanying this cinematic visual treat was the experiential zone, where attendees interacted with
various immersive worlds through VR and AR. The attendees experienced watching films in an
immersive 360-degree VR at the 360° Dome. The Indie Comix Fest x AniMela, a curation of Indian
Indie comics with artist meets, was buzzing, with attendees crowding the booths and buying comics
created by the artists. And for those who wanted to take a break from workshops and films, there
was a PlayStation booth!
Kireet Khurana - Festival Director of AniMela, said, “While many events exist that promote
mainstream OTT or video gaming work, it is rare for them to give independent makers from the AVGC-
XR space a mainstream voice or a platform. However, AniMela is a platform for indie talent in the AVGC-
XR scene. And it was heartening to see how every artist was happy to be here because they were given
a platform to showcase their talent. We need to raise awareness about India's amazing talent, and I
believe AniMela has managed to do just that over four days. I hope this continues.”
Neha Jain, Executive Director at AniMela, mentioned, “I definitely believe that AniMela 2024 has
been a resounding success! We wanted the visitors to come and feel the energy of the place and
participate in the various sessions, workshops and activities, alongside watching the films we screened
throughout the day - and what we saw happening was just that! The sessions were full, the films were
being talked about, there were new friendships made over chai and workshops! The support and
response we received have been incredible, further reconfirming our vision and faith in AniMela. I am
eagerly looking forward to its next edition, where we plan to have a lovely children's section of cinema
and masterclasses for our youngest visitors!”
Anne Doshi, Artistic Director at AniMela, said, “So much learning happened at AniMela. The MIFA
campus was an amazing learning experience for the participants as well as those present during the
pitch. The energy in the room was incredible, with the participants' efforts and passion behind their
projects and their earnest desperation to reach out to a larger audience palpable for all to see. And
what we saw was that there is an audience for their work! I believe this is just the beginning and will
only grow bigger and bigger!”
India is often seen as only a support hub for Western studios. However, it is home to vast homegrown
talent. The first edition of AniMela was an attempt to tap into this potential talent and nurture them
by serving as a cumulative space where students and mentors, artists, and businesses could meet,
interact and form connections, thereby transforming India into a creative force to reckon with on a
global stage. The three-day festival encompassed film screenings, knowledge-sharing sessions, experiential zones (including gaming, comics & XR), and professional networking opportunities India-wide release, 24th January 2024: Mumbai's National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) transformed into a haven of creativity and innovation with the debut edition of AniMela -
India's first-ever international Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics and Extended Reality
(AVGC-XR) festival - brought forth by Aniverse & Visual Arts Foundation (AVAF). From 19th
January 2023 to 21st January 2023, AniMela was a unique stage for local and international artists,
animation filmmakers, game developers, and storytellers to converge, collaborate, network,
showcase their work and contribute to the growth of the dynamic AVGC-XR scene.
The AVAF partnered with the Government of India (Information & Broadcasting Ministry) and
the Annecy International Animation Festival in France to bring AniMela to Mumbai. The festival
witnessed an overwhelming 3000 attendees flock to the venues across the span of 3 days. Some of
the biggest names in the AVGC-XR and other related spaces also graced the festival with their
presence. This included filmmakers Ashutosh Gowariker, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Vaibhav
Kumaresh (Emmy-nominated animation filmmaker), Munjal Shroff (Co-founder of Graphiti Media),
Nina Sabnani, Gitanjali Rao (theatre actress and animator), Sai Abishek (Head of Factual &
Lifestyle Cluster, South Asia - Warner Bros. Discovery), and Biren Ghose (President/Country Head
of Technicolour Creative Studios).
Vikas Kharge (Principal Secretary to CM, Govt of Maharashtra) with his family, Aseem Gupta
(Principal Secretary, Urban Development, Govt. of Maharashtra), and Prithul Kumar (Joint
Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Govt of India) were also present.
The festival kicked off with a grand opening ceremony that saw guests like Shariq Patel (Head of Zee
Studios), Ashish Kulkarni (Chairman of FICCI for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics
Forum), Jaya Bachchan, Mr Fernando Heredia Noguer (Consul General of Spain in Mumbai), Jean-
Marc Sere-Charlet (Consul General of France in Mumbai), Chaitanya Chinchlikar (VP, Whistling
Woods International) and Saeed Akhtar Mirza in attendance. It commenced with its first day at the
New Excelsior Theatre in Fort with the screening of Sultana's Dream, an internationally acclaimed
animated film.
What followed were numerous engaging full-house sessions spanning each aspect of the AVGC-XR
landscape as part of the festival's knowledge-sharing efforts like Reza Riahi's Sketch to Screen
Animation masterclass and Johanna Goldschmidt's Script to Screen Animation Writing
masterclass. Several workshops, panel discussions and masterclasses with Indian and international
industry stalwarts provided glimpses of work-in-progress and behind-the-scenes of prominent
animation and VFX projects like RRR and Bahubali, amongst many others. These included sessions
on character designing, a phonotrope workshop, a pixilation masterclass, a workshop on navigating
the animation film market, showrunners workshop (creating TV series in 30 minutes), a panel
discussion on making indie VFX and animation films in India, and much more. Students from schools
across India, like the NID, Ahmedabad, Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology,
Bengaluru, Whistling Woods International, Mumbai, and Rubika Pune, participated in these
sessions.
AniMela also brought the Annecy Festival's prestigious International MIFA Campus (IMC) for the
first time ever to the country to continue educating and nurturing the potential of young Indian
talents in this space. The IMC is supported by the French Institute in India and Rubika School, Pune.
As a part of IMC, five projects were selected from over 60 animation project holders for this exclusive
4-day workshop conducted by industry luminaries animation filmmaker Reza Riahi (who worked
on the Academy Award-nominated film Breadwinner), France-based Screenwriter Johanna
Goldschmidt and Animation Producer Delphine Nicolini. The selected five project pitches were
presented at the AniMela-IMC Pitch, where the jury consisted of filmmakers Ashutosh Gowariker
and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and the IMC Mentors, who awarded project holders Isha
Mangalmurti and Shreeya Wagh with the trophy for ‘Best Pitch’, for their project Lala.
To truly celebrate the industry and give attendees a holistic, enriching experience, AniMela also
screened an extraordinary array of international award-winning animation features and short films
from across the globe - from the USA and Canada to France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland to
Hungary, Slovakia to Japan. The world premiere of Lucky Dog was a house-full session with its
director Ujwal Nair and producer Indou Theagrajan engaging in a post-screening Q&A, while Bart de
Jong, Consul General of the Netherlands, presented a short film collection at the Diversity & Identity:
Dutch Shorts Programme.
Accompanying this cinematic visual treat was the experiential zone, where attendees interacted with
various immersive worlds through VR and AR. The attendees experienced watching films in an
immersive 360-degree VR at the 360° Dome. The Indie Comix Fest x AniMela, a curation of Indian
Indie comics with artist meets, was buzzing, with attendees crowding the booths and buying comics
created by the artists. And for those who wanted to take a break from workshops and films, there
was a PlayStation booth!
Kireet Khurana - Festival Director of AniMela, said, “While many events exist that promote
mainstream OTT or video gaming work, it is rare for them to give independent makers from the AVGC-
XR space a mainstream voice or a platform. However, AniMela is a platform for indie talent in the AVGC-
XR scene. And it was heartening to see how every artist was happy to be here because they were given
a platform to showcase their talent. We need to raise awareness about India's amazing talent, and I
believe AniMela has managed to do just that over four days. I hope this continues.”
Neha Jain, Executive Director at AniMela, mentioned, “I definitely believe that AniMela 2024 has
been a resounding success! We wanted the visitors to come and feel the energy of the place and
participate in the various sessions, workshops and activities, alongside watching the films we screened
throughout the day - and what we saw happening was just that! The sessions were full, the films were
being talked about, there were new friendships made over chai and workshops! The support and
response we received have been incredible, further reconfirming our vision and faith in AniMela. I am
eagerly looking forward to its next edition, where we plan to have a lovely children's section of cinema
and masterclasses for our youngest visitors!”
Anne Doshi, Artistic Director at AniMela, said, “So much learning happened at AniMela. The MIFA
campus was an amazing learning experience for the participants as well as those present during the
pitch. The energy in the room was incredible, with the participants' efforts and passion behind their
projects and their earnest desperation to reach out to a larger audience palpable for all to see. And
what we saw was that there is an audience for their work! I believe this is just the beginning and will
only grow bigger and bigger!”
India is often seen as only a support hub for Western studios. However, it is home to vast homegrown
talent. The first edition of AniMela was an attempt to tap into this potential talent and nurture them
by serving as a cumulative space where students and mentors, artists, and businesses could meet,
interact and form connections, thereby transforming India into a creative force to reckon with on a
global stage.
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