1000 Animation Artists and Students in Mumbai. 700 in Hyderabad. 300 in Kolkata. 300 in Delhi. 250 in Bangalore. 250 in Chennai. 250 in Kochi. 100 in Ahemadabad. More than 3000 artists, students and enthusiasts celebrated International Animation Day 2006 in India this year. And what a wonderful celebration it was!

The consistent hard work that organizations like ASIFA India and TASI have been doing over the years in terms of promoting the Artist and Animation is finally beginning to show results, earlier with Anifest 06, and now with IAD 06 and things just seem to be getting bigger and better.

This year joining the merry Animation caravan were multiple organizations from across various Indian cities supporting the event by volunteering to host and organize logistics. Also the sponsors and supporters who are now demonstrating their conviction in the future of Indian animation by investing their money, time and expertise.

The Sponsors for the event included Arena Multimedia (Platinum), Crest Animation Studios, nVidia, Rhythm & Hues India, Visual Computing Labs, Whistling Woods (Gold) and MAAC and Digital Academy. The event was supported by Films Division of India, Sony Pictures Releasing India, Animation Xpress.com, National Institute of Design, Autodesk, Wacom, Women in Animation, CG Tantra and Softimage.

In its Multi City avatar, IAD had organizing partners in each of the cities that it was held. These included ABAI (Bangalore), Piccaso Animation (Dlehi), Toonz Webel (Kolkata), NID (Ahemadabad), Arena Multimedia Dilsukhnagar Branch (Hyderabad), Icat (Chennai) and Image at (Kochi).

The celebrations at Mumbai, which boasted of a day long line up of events were a sheer joy to be part of. An event that was as well organized as it was ideally conceived. Besides providing the necessary space for having an event of this scale, the Tata Theatre at NCPA as a venue was welcoming, classy, cushy and elegant and it set the mood for the Animation Mela.

Animation Books, Animation DVDs, Animation Tattoos, Claymation workshops, Caricature Corners, Indian Katputhli Shows, Pottery, Workshops on Animation Sketching, Animation Acting, How to make your short film as an independent film maker, How to create your own blogs and home pages, CG meetups, Animation Journalism, Career Guidance in Animation, Multiple Screens showing the best of Indian as well as International animation. Tables where one could join and learn more about the community.

All these wonderful workshops and stalls seamlessly composed as if a master compositor had managed the job. Things just fit in so well. Also the timing of the events all being held at different spots on the locations at various starting times was so well managed. Timing is an important aspect of acting and editing, we were after all celebrating International Animation Day were we not?

And this was not all. Animagic India's Maa with Master Animator and Animation director Chetan Sharma talking about the film. Sharma's work has an edginess to it and has a strong impact on the viewer. The Maa screening was preceded by a special screening of vintage 35 mm animated films from Films Division India. The screenings of these classics and vintage films was one of the big highlights of the event.

The screenings were followed by the ASIFA India Awards of Excellence. The quality of the students short films left the audience spellbound. Raindance won the honors in the Student Category, In the professional short film, (over 1 minute) category Gitanjali Rao's Printed Rainbow was the recipient of this year's ASIFA Award while the Professional under 1min category was a tie between Amaron3 and Birthday Bhoot, both films were directed by Vaibhav Kumaresh. Winners prizes included Maya licenses, Softimage foundation licenses, Wacom Tablets, and nVidia Quadro FX graphics cards.

Dinner on the lawns in a mild, mood lit atmosphere continued the artistic legacy of the earlier hours of celebration and the finale came in the form of the special preview screening of Monster House, with the support of Sony Pictures Entertainment India. The acting of the animated characters was amazing and the teen age humor had the audience roaring with laughter.....

And even as the wonderful evening came drew to a close the laughter and smiles continued....

Powering the theme and the execution, the puritan spirit of the event and the energy and enthusiasm of all the volunteers was the highlight of International Animation Day 2006 celebrations.

Saraswathi Balgam President of ASIFA India shared with Animation Xpress.com "It was beautiful to see the genuine excitement and active participation of so many members of our animation community under one roof. For once, there were no politics, no bitterness.. it was a pure unadulterated celebration of art and the appreciation of the artist! It was also the results of all the weeks of hard work our volunteers had tirelessly put together.. and it was exhilarating to see it all unfold so wonderfully! I am definitely looking forward to next year's IAD and to further share this positive spirit of our community with every city around India"

"As co-hosts we are extremely happy on the response we have received this year. TASI wishes to thank all the sponsors, volunteers and supporters for their good wishes and involvement in the celebrations. Also we would like to congratulate all the participants, nominees and winners" shared TASI Secretary Tony Singh.

"For all those who attended IAD06 as well as the unfortunate ones who missed out, I would like to take this opportunity to announce that TASI & NID are hosting 3 international stalwarts namely Ishu Patel, Isabel Herguera, and Joel Simon over the next 60 days. With this we are sure that the excitement generated by IAD06 will continue and we hope students as well as professionals will make the most of these workshop sessions"

The Highlights - IAD 06

Acting in Animation workshop conducted by Anita Salim was amongst the most fun and lively activities one would have ever witnessed at an Animation event in India. The liveliness and spontaneity with which the participants acted was a sight to see. "Acting is an art form that requires you to shed your inhibitions and become a child again" shared Anita. "The whole idea of wanting to entertain and make people happy makes acting such a noble profession" And for animation too, in order to come up with the best expressions, you need to be an actor without inhibitions" she added.

Just like the acting workshop, the Animation Sketching Workshop conducted by Professor Krishnaswami one of the creative directors at MEL had a lot of takers. Particpants were given all the necessary drawing boards and stationery and the professor thought them how to understand Space, form, structure. How to use basic shapes and modify them to create anatomical representations etc.

Vaibhav Kumaresh is one of India's best animators and animation directors and his cheerful, magnanimous spirit also makes him one of the most popular Animation personalities in India. A role model for many a young Indian animator. Obviously the maestro's stop motion workshop where he along with colleagues Chandini Chudasama, Rajiv Eipe and Amit Sonawane demonstrated and explained in various sessions, how stop motion animation was done. Obviously and needless to add, the workshop was thronged by one and all and was chock a block for all of the 5 hours that it was open.

Kumaresh later on shared with Animation Xpress.com, "I am sure the event has been action-packed! As we were too tied up with our stopmotion workshop, I have no clue what was happening around once the event started. I couldnt enjoy the mela experience the way i would have wanted to"

"However I thoroughly enjoyed the screenings. The Films Division classics were a super duper hit!! They brought out nostalgic tears of joy! Simple storytelling, bold n beautiful designs. Thats something we're losing out today. I am sure the audience must have had a ball and thats most heartening"

"A non linear structure of events and chopping off food expenses from the entry fee were things that we tried out this IAD from an organisational point of view. It gave much more flexibility to the event and the huge attendance speaks for itself!!"

35 mm screening of animated films from the veritable archives of Films Division, India was amongst the major highlights. The Icing on the cake being the screening of the Chetan Sharma directed Maaa created with the support of CFSI.

Katputhli & Indian Pottery was a sight to see. Our own Indian culture being respected and appreciated.

There was never a lonely moment at The Animation books display by MM Mukhi & Sons which was continously thronged by the artists.

The tatoo table was interesting, with many youngsters getting tatoos painted on thier faces, which they proudly sported.

The animation illustrations table by Vinayak, the Vacom tablet painting, the CG Meet ups, the animation short film making workshops all were big draws too with a lot of visitor interest

And time and again as one drifted and flowed from one activity region to the other, one would more often than not stop and stare at the wonderful screenings of animated films and showreels..... A good reason to halt.

For young students and enthusiasts, besides the numerous workshops and activities, the various tables that shared information about ASIFA India, TASI, Animation Xpress, CG Tantra and Women in Animation, were extremely useful too! And for all the males who felt isolated or neglected upon hearing of the name 'Women In Animation', the good news was and is that Men are welcome to join the group too!

100 on 100. Full marks to the event!

Multi City activities
Mumbai was one story. IAD 2006 in India was not one but eight stories. And while the Mumbai event might have been more elaborate, each event in each of the cities was unique and remarkable in its own way. The spirit and the celebration of art was the common theme for all the cities' celebrations and as is evident from the photographs (see Animation Xpress.com slideshows) were equally wonderful every where.

IAD 06 @ Delhi
Piccaso's ABRP Reddy who was the main support organizer for the Delhi event shared, "We had some wonderful IAD 2006 celebrations at Delhi this year. The event was attended by over 300 animation professionals and students. The variety of Animation films and clips showcased won the hearts of the youngsters and the attendees at Delhi did appreciate the efforts of the organizers"

According to Reddy, the collective voice of the crowd at Delhi was 'We want more events like these' "

Management Representatives from Arena, MAAC as well as BIT Noida attended the event too. There was also International representation in the form of Marino from Saucer Attack studios, New York, Proff Lynne Godfroy, academic head of Centennial Collge, Toronto and Proff Shaun McKenna from Canada.

IAD 06 @ Kolkata
Says ToonzWebel Head Srimati Mukherjee who was the main support organizer for the Kolkata event," You will appreciate that Kolkata is the hub of all creative activities from drawing to painting; dance to drama; music to mime; and, of course, filmmaking. And now it is making its presence strongly felt in the Indian animation scenario. We have lot of things to project, showcase and share.

"Like ASIFA India CG meet-ups in Mumbai which organizes several free workshops throughout the year covering various topics for the animation community - we, the animation fraternity of Kolkata, will certainly come forward proactively to foster the growth of the animation industry in this part of the country"

I sincerely hope that the next International Animation Day celebration at Kolkata will definitely scale even greater heights with a significant contribution from all of us.

IAD 06 @ Chennai
ICAT's Natarajan who was the main organizer for the IAD06 event in Chennai shared, "IAD 06 was spot on as an event that celebrates animation, in India; the pan Indian nature of the celebration highlights the enthusiastic presence of animation around the country and serves as an inspiration for many more. Hats off to ASIFA, TASI and all supporters for the professional conduct of the show. ICAT was honoured to host the celebration in Chennai and reiterates its commitment to support more such events in Chennai"

Stay tuned to Animation Xpress.com for more feedback and response about IAD 2006!

These are truly wonderful times for Indian animation and the culture of the art form is taking seed in the Indian youth, the industry is maturing and as one signs off, one does so on a cheery note, with optimism and with conviction that stems from eyeing glimpses of a great future….

So Long……