A Newcomer’s Guide to Annecy

And so began a multi-week-long planning spree of Govinda planning with the Annecy coordinators and finishing up his applications, us planning our stay, looking at Google Maps and figuring out the trip, making our websites 'networking ready', getting my Annecy accreditation, sitting on calls and reserving screenings, packing, booking flights - just exciting stuff throughout. Cut to me sitting at the T2 Airport in Bombay waiting for our flight - alone.

Govinda had everything planned, but even the best laid-out plans need a VISA stamp, something that Govinda was denied. His VISA application was rejected. The director of the only Indian graduation film selected for Annecy was denied access to the country, to the festival and a chance to represent his film and his country. It was heartbreaking and to be quite frank, ridiculous. So for no apparent reason, the director could not attend the festival, while I would make it my mission to get people at Annecy to talk about the film and show it some love.

The whole VISA scuffle really sparked some thoughts about the animation industry in the country, which I will get to in a bit, but I also have to now talk about the Annecy festival from how I experienced it. So this 3 paragraph-long preface was how I found myself in the streets of Annecy attending the biggest animation film festival in the world. So read on to get a glimpse of the festival from yours truly, or scroll down to where I'm going to put down my thoughts about the industry in this country. I also apologise in advance for my excessive use of parentheses (it will happen again), excessively long and sometimes unneeded descriptions, casual tones, lists, and irony (wink).

While it is quite difficult to explain the entire festival briefly, I will still give it a shot. The festival, which spans for a week, hosts screenings, ranging from graduation films by students to feature films by the biggest studios in the world, along with multiple events such as signing sessions, exhibitions and so on. The festival also includes MIFA, the professional section of the event. The MIFA campus allows recruiters, candidates, producers, sellers and other professionals to interact.

The first few days were overwhelming, in all the good ways. The entire town is filled to the brim with people who will talk about animation and the industry endlessly. It felt thrilling to be there. I caught some of the most spectacular screenings I’ve seen, attended talks with people I have admired all along, had the best ice cream, even got to network with people who I’ve always wanted to work with. And the number of famous people you see, whoa. Kavin and I bumped into Aaron Blaise (more like we saw him and stood there until he noticed us staring), who was so kind and had a lovely little chat with us two fanboys. While talking to him we see Bobby Chiu pass us by, to which Aaron says "Oh hey, that's Bobby!" like we don't know who he is. I kept seeing Diego Porall every day roaming around with several groups (will definitely go say 'hi' next time). And not to mention the people I saw in talks and signing sessions, including Andy Serkis, Chris Sanders, Chris Renaud, and so many more.

My usual day was getting up, heading to the Bonlieu (the heart of the festival which hosts most of the events), grabbing some breakfast along the way, attending a screening or a singing session or just hanging out with my friends, going for lunch at some of the best places I’ve eaten, attending a few more events, hanging out a little more, bumping into someone famous, hogging an unhealthy amount of ice cream, going for yet another event, and eventually heading back. All just to do it again in a slightly different order the next day. Not too bad a week I’d say. It's a dreamland for anyone who enjoys animation.

On Wednesday, after walking out of a signing session with Zack Snyder and Jay Oliva (who drew Batman for me and made my day), I decided to take a shuttle to the Imperial Palace; the MIFA campus. This is where everything gets super professional and down to business. Recruitment drives, studio talks, producer meetings – it's all quite insane (it's also the place where you're most likely to see famous people). Although this was my first time going to the MIFA campus in the festival, I did have a motive. I wanted to get into Namaste MIFA, a pitch event organized by Annecy and AniMela, and co-hosted by Assemblage Entertainment and Zebu Animation Studios. Did I have the MIFA Annecy accreditation which is required to enter? No. Was I still going to try? Obviously.

With about 5 minutes left for the event to start, Kavin and I arrived at the venue, and were denied entry (obviously). Not because we didn't have the right accreditation, but because the room was almost full. As we were shuffling around about to head back, someone spotted us two Indian kids from inside the room and called out, "tum log aa rahe ho ya nahi?". The brown card really works. We could not figure out who it was who got us in, so if you're reading this, thank you so much.

We settled down and then got to watch the pitches for the 4 work-in-progress projects created by 6 of the most talented Indian creators: “Hide & Seek” by Krishna Chandran Nair; “Rising Tides” by Pari Satarkar; “Lala” by Isha Mangalmurti and Shreeya Wagh; and “Table for One” by Debjyoti Saha and Dhruv Sehgal. It was amazing. Each project so vastly different from the one before, gripping storylines, beautiful visuals; it honestly felt like a great time to be an Indian in the animation industry. Each pitch ended with a progress check of the project, and the creators listing out what they're looking for. This was followed by a cocktail party where everyone could talk and connect, which is where I met all of them.

After gushing to them about their amazing projects, a whole bunch of us took a walk along the beautiful Annecy Lake all the way to Glacier de Alps for some ice cream. For the next hour or so we had discussions about their pitches, the animation situation in India, and whether the mint chocolate chip ice cream was actually good or not (it was). Eventually, everyone called it a day, and one failed screening attempt later, I was in bed too.

The news over the next few days was absolute music to everyone's ears. Pari Satarkar's project "Rising Tides" won the “Animation du Monde” Mifa Prize at the Mifa Short Film Pitches! Her project, along with Krishna C. Nair's "Hide & Seek" also found backing after the pitches. And if this wasn't enough to get us excited for the Indian animation scene, there was more.

It was the last day of the festival, the day of the closing ceremony. Mostly everyone I knew had left by then, so my plan was to catch a couple more screenings and take the city in before I leave the next day. That is, until Govinda called me in the morning to tell me that he had a new email from Annecy: ‘Maatitel has won an award’. I swear this trip just kept getting better. Most of the winners get notified that they’ve won prior to the event, so they can maybe write down a cute little acceptance speech, or figure out how to collect the award in case they can’t make it to the ceremony. Govinda was asked to refer someone who could collect the award if possible, and he added me to the thread. So a few more emails later, I had an invite to the closing ceremony. A few hours later, Anne Doshi from Animela reached out, suggesting and asking me if I wanted to accompany her to the ceremony. And so we walked into the ceremony, and I had the honour to collect the award on Govinda's behalf. Govinda Sao's "Maatitel" won the Lotte Reiniger Award in the Graduation Films category. I called Govinda and put him on video call to go collect the award; he may not have been able to attend the festival, but that doesn’t mean people couldn’t show him the love he and his film deserved. It was incredible, to see a film you’ve worked on being screened in the biggest fest, winning an award. I did not think my first Annecy experience would be so wild.

So to come to one of the primary topics I was asked to cover in this article (which seems more like a diary entry at this point) - What I think of the Indian Animation scene, especially after the massive representation at Annecy this year.

I'll start with exactly that, the representation. A positive note (before I start letting my other thoughts loose). This was my first Annecy experience, but the amount of Indian projects and involvements everyone had the chance to witness was amazing. “Mangal – The Holy Beast”, a feature film by Triparna Maiti and the series “Mr. Bagwan” by Alfredo Gerard Kuttikatt were two Indian projects at the MIFA Pitches, alongside Pari and Krishna's projects. Namaste MIFA presented the latter two pitches alongside the series "Table for One" by Debjyoti Saha and Dhruv Sehgal, and "Lala" by Isha Mangalmurti and Shreeya Wagh. While these projects were unfolding over at the MIFA campus, there were three additional Indian film selections at the film festival: “15 Years of Studio Eeksaurus ‘The Seed'” by Suresh Eriyat; “Basha” by Paul Anirban; and “Maatitel” by Govinda Sao. These were joined by Pakistan-Spain-India co-production "The Glassworker".

If looking at the number of Indian projects this year doesn't excite you for what's to come next, I don't know what will. But don't just take it from me. Mickaël Marin, director of the festival's organising body (CITIA) says "India had a very good presence this year. Double satisfaction with India since it is the realisation of a specific support that we have provided, in particular with the animation festival project that was launched in January in Mumbai."

Don’t get me wrong though, all this still doesn’t overrule some of the more bleaker aspects of the industry in India. Take Maatitel for example. It got selected. It won. All this joy came with the incredibly sad fact that Govinda, being a nominated director, himself could not attend the festival, including his own film’s screening, and perhaps most importantly, the award ceremony to collect his own award. One would think that the director of the only Indian graduation film selected for the biggest animation film festival in the world would have no difficulty in entering the festival and representing his film and his country. While this may not be directly related to the animation industry in India, who’s to say that some extra help from the country might not have helped resolve his VISA issue much sooner?

I've had times when I've deeply thought about the animation industry in India, at times doubting it, and at times being absolutely mesmerised by it. I know quite a few people who've pondered on the topic as well. It's always, "India doesn't have the right audience to appreciate these projects" or "Not a lot of people are aware of the work we do" or similar counterpoints that are flung across conversations. There’s no audience because there’s no major support from the country, there’s no major support because there’s no audience, and it goes in circles. It may be out of sorts to think that so many Indian projects get appreciated outside the country before the genius is realised in India itself, which I've seen happen. I genuinely do believe that those milestones will slowly build a much more responsive system in India, but all that can be fast tracked with better recognition and support from the country as a whole. It's amazing that one of the biggest animation festivals in the world had about ten amazing projects this year, and I'm only expecting that number to keep growing. All I can say is that I am more excited for Indian Animation than I ever was, and all the more motivated to be a part of it in whatever way I can.

If you actually read this whole article/blog/diary entry till here I really do appreciate you. So the least I can do is give you a few tips for the Annecy festival:

1. Get a good pair of WALKING shoes. I made the grave mistake of taking shoes which are not meant to walk in at all, and oh boy.

2. Please. Reserve. Events. The film festival works based on reservations, which open a week or so before the festival. It's first come first serve, so free up your calendar for some fast-paced clicking action.

3. Network shamelessly. This is probably one of the few times when you can talk about work endlessly, without guilt. Make use of that, go talk to people, exchange cards, and make friends.

4. Here’s what I carried everyday in a small bag, it got me through the festival pretty well: Water bottle, a snack, sketchbook/s and pencils for drawing and autographs, an umbrella (the rain is insanely unpredictable), a jacket, phone charger, swim trunks (that lake almost calls you in it to swim), and funnily enough, another tote bag inside my bag. You never know when you need another bag.

5. Here’s what I would also carry next time: a small card game or something of the sorts, lines are annoyingly long and the wait is longer, so it’s nice to sit down and get a few rounds of UNO in with your new friends.

Bonus: Practise making paper aeroplanes. You'll thank me later 😉