Renowned for a rich culture dating back thousands of years, India is building a new cultural legacy-the movie business. Popularly known as Bollywood, the Indian film industry annually releases 1,000 films, approximately 10 times what Hollywood produces each year.
Warner Bros. will make its first animation feature in India, following a deal with director Jyotin Goel and his Goel Screencraft shingle, per VARIETY.
The deal is one of several Indian film deals announced by Time Warner units in the last year. The untitled pic is described by Goel as, "a journey into the lives of birds as they soar over dense jungles and teeming cities, giving them a point of view of the world that is hilariously different from ours."
Ed Hooks is holding his first Acting for Animators workshops in India, May 19-23. The host during this trip will be the Image College of Art, Animation and Technology (ICAT) at 153, Santhome High Road, Mylapore Chennai 600004. Telephone: +91 44 - 4273 7755. If any schools or animation studios want to schedule their own private class, please contact Natraj V., Director, Chief Academic Officer at the school, and he will help you set things up. His e-mail address is: natraj@icat.ac.in.
Johannes Wolters dives into fmx/08, which this year offered an even greater number of stimulating discussions on the state of artistic and technological visual content.
Leading independent children's production company HIT Ent. has announced a strategic partnership with Turner Int'l India Pvt. Ltd. extending their existing TV deal to include licensing representation of HIT's popular preschool properties BOB THE BUILDER and THOMAS & FRIENDS. The shows, launched and promoted by Turner's flagship kids' channel Cartoon Network across India, are among the top-rated properties across Indian kids' television networks. The licensing rights include apparel and accessories, stationery, toys and games.
In this month's edition of "The Digital Eye," Tim McGovern recounts his participation in the VES' recent five-city tour of India as the first step in creating a VES section there.
NFDC is hosting the Film Bazaar India to help promote Indian cinema. The event will feature a business lounge and co-production market, coinciding with the International Film Festival of India. The Business Lounge will be an interactive platform for prospective buyers and sellers of film rights from India and abroad. At the co-production market, 15 preselected projects drawn from all over India will be presented to all Film Bazaar participants. For more information, visit www.nfdcindia.com/filmbaazar/index.html.
The Broadcast India Show is a global megamart for broadcast-related industries featuring everything to do with entertainment, from content creation to its delivery, under one roof. After the success of its 16th consecutive exhibition and symposium, the event is expected to draw more than 22,000 attendees, with more than 400 companies from 31 countries.
Chitrakatha '07 is an international animation film festival that celebrates and encourages original content from India. It invites entries in any format from students around the world who practice animation cinema. The length of the entries can be from ten seconds to ten minutes.
ASIFA India is proud to present yet another year of the International Animation Day -- IAD 2007.
This year's IAD celebration will have a twist. Instead of celebrating the occasion on just one day, we plan to take the celebration across the country for a whole week, with multiple sessions in different cities within India. IAD features activities including content screening, workshops and special events led by some of the industry's top names. The high point of these celebrations is the ASIFA India Awards of Excellence, which celebrates the very best in animation across the country.
The India Digital Networks Summit will look into the growing concern over heightened competition, fragmentation and costs in the media sector. In its third year, sponsored by both the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and the Telecom Regulatory Authority in India, the event helps producers navigate regulation, TV channel proliferation and fragmentation, CAS, DTH, broadband, investment, expansion strategies and returns. For more information, visit www.media-partners-asia.com.
Film Bazaar India 2007Goa, IndiaNov. 24-26, 2007Deadline: Oct. 15, 2007
ASIFA India's International Animation Day (IAD) 2007Various Locations, IndiaOct. 21-28, 2007Deadline: Sept. 30, 2007
ASIFA India is proud to present yet another year of the International Animation Day -- IAD 2007.
The Animation Society of India (TASI) is hosting Anifest India 07. It is for the first time ever in India that an animation education festival is going to take place at the Anifest India 07. Along with the professional sessions that happen every year, this year the event will put more emphasis on animation education. Premiere animation schools and teachers from all over India and even abroad shall come and present their course structure and also showcase some of their best student films.
Anifest India 07Mumbai, IndiaMay 26-27, 2007Deadline: May 15, 2007
Sony Pictures Imageworks has proposed moving more than 100 jobs from Culver City to New Mexico if lawmakers approve a state bill next week that would make permanent an existing program providing a combined 25% rebate on taxable production expenses, reports THE LOS ANGELES TIMES.
A proposed 112,000-square-foot digital facility would be housed within the newly opened Albuquerque Studios. The partial relocation would not only reduce the cost of making vfx and 3D animation, but also ease the burden of the Culver City facility that currently operates at full capacity.
Sony Pictures Imageworks (SPI) has purchased 50.1% of FrameFlow, the visual effects and animation studio based in Chennai, India, for about $5 million. FrameFlow worked on Sonys CLICK last year.
As part of the deal, FrameFlow will become Imageworks India and will work with SPIs main production facility in Culver City, California.
J. Paul Peszko reports on NVIDIA's expansion into India as part of a global strategy to reach emerging markets.
The animation industry in Kolkata, India is growing at an annual rate of 40%, which is 5% higher than the rest of India, according to THE BUSINESS STANDARD.
"In Kolkata, cost of production is less due to availability of cheaper skilled manpower. Automatically, Kolkata becomes the preferred destination for all kinds of contract-based animation activities," said Barunansu Sarkar, regional head (East) of Arena Multimedia.
The Indian animation market was estimated at $285 million in 2005 and is expected to expand to $950 million by 2009.
Known mostly for its CG entertainment work, Indias emerging animation industry is increasingly adding vfx projects to its portfolio. Karen Raugust reports. Includes QuickTime clips of vfx showreels from Prasad EFX, Paprikaas Animation Studios and Rayudu Vision Media Ltd.!
Lisa Goldman was invited to be a judge at the Mumbai Intl Film Festival, where she discovered a new world of animation in the city formerly known as Bombay, the center of Bollywood.
The theme of Promax|BDA India 2006 is changing platforms without missing the train and creating content that travels in the new media environment.
Promo makers' and designers' lives have just become a whole lot more complicated. With everything from free-TV, cable and DTH to IPTV, mobile and personal portable players, today's content not only has to travel, it has to arrive everywhere in great shape.
This year's Promax|BDA India conference focuses on building creative connections between all the gadgets and screens that people now use to consume content.
Award-winning animation director Bill Kroyer, from Rhythm & Hues (LA) will be in India for a two-week intensive training workshop for the artists at Rhythm & Hues India. Kroyer will also be hosting an animation workshop separately as part of the monthly CGMeetups@R&H. This workshop will be free and open to all artists, students and enthusiasts to attend.
Registrations have opened up and for further details email cgmeetup@rhythm.com. The workshop is being held at KC College Auditorium, Churchgate, Mumbai. The event starts at 2:00 pm sharp and gates open at 1:30 pm.
TASI (The Animation Society of India) and ASIFA-India will host Anifest '06
GALLI GALLI SIM SIM, the localized version of the award-winning children's series SESAME STREET, makes its home in India this year on leading kids' channels Cartoon Network and POGO. Nafisa Ali, chairperson, Children's Film Society, India inaugurated the GALLI GALLI SIM SIM set at Filmcity, Noida.
Joining the four colorful Muppet characters Chamki, Aanchoo, Googly and Boombah, who were unveiled in December, GALLI GALLI SIM SIM residents include human characters representing different genders, regions and religions.
