Indian Animation Film Maker and Maestro Gitanjali Rao has been invited to be a member of the Jury in Cannes 2011 Critic‘s Week section ( 50th SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE, CANNES 2011) to judge the films for the ‘Kodak Discovery Award‘ for the best short film.
Gitanjali is the first Indian animation film Director to be invited onto the prestigious Cannes jury.
Cannes Critic‘s week completes 50 years this year having discovered the films of world renowned directors like Bernardo Bertolucci, Ken Loach, Amos Gitai, Wong Kar Wai, Inarritu amongst several others.
The ‘Kodak Discovery Award‘ is one of the most prestigious awards in the Critic‘s Week section reserved only for short films. The jury will be presided by the eminent Polish film maker Jerzy Skolimowski who made his debut at Critics‘ Week with his first feature Walkover in 1965.
Speaking to AnimationXpress.com, Gitanjali commented, “It is an honour to be on the distinguished panel especially because it is cinema from all over the world and not limited to animation.
And it would naturally be very very challenging to judge such work. A learning experience discussing these films with such senior International directors. I look forward most to that interaction.”
In 2006, Gitanjali‘s short film Printed Rainbow was one of the seven films selected from more than 2000 entries from all over the world. It went on to win three awards including the best Short film at the Critic‘s week, the others being the prestigious ‘Rail d”Or and ‘Young critic‘s Award‘.
Printed Rainbow traveled to over a hundred International festivals and won 27 awards in all. It was also short listed amongst the last ten films for the Academy Award in 2008.
Apart from being part of the Cannes Critic‘s Week jury, Gitanjali‘s Feature animation film Girgit, has been selected at the ‘Cinema Du Monde‘ Pavillion in the heart of the Cannes Film market this year as one of the twelve projects in development selected from countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America, middle eastern countries and Eastern Europe. ‘Cinema Du Monde‘ is a unique platform to showcase young and emerging directors and help them discover, exchange and promote their works in progress. Institut Francais and French TV channels come together to sponsor these selected film makers and forward the culture of artistic cinema in the world.
“It is a great and rare opportunity to be selected from hundreds of projects from 15 countries. It will give me the invaluable education and experience of pitching an Indian animated feature film to international buyers in the Cannes market. Not just as a seller but as an invited film maker. Goes to prove Cannes not only rewards Independent film makers, it also takes their work forward by helping them find funding from international sources”, shared Gitanjali.
“Finally for me, Cannes is not just a ‘red carpet‘, it is in the true sense a strong support for film makers and good cinema from all over the world”, she concluded.
Gitanjali is currently pursuing her next short animation film project ‘Lovestory 2011‘ which is homage and take on ‘bollywood‘ fantasies and musicals. This will be an international production using puppet animation.
For more information about Gitanjali Rao visit: www.gitanjalirao.com Email: gitanjalirao@gmail.com