After winning ‘City of Annecy Award’ at Annecy 2020, and being nominated in several film festivals across the globe, Kolkata based, Ghost Animation’s WADE is now officially selected for the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) and Bengaluru International Short Film Festival (BISFF).
Thrilled on the official selections, WADE co-director Kalp Sanghvi shared with AnimationXpress, “MIFF is the Australian premiere and one of the big festivals in the world. Really happy about the selection. About nine to 10 films are on the final list, so we [Upamanyu Bhattacharyya, co-director] consider it an honour to be among the top 10 films selected in the animation category! And BISFF will be the first Indian festival WADE will be screened at. Selected at such a reputed festival is huge for us also because it’s an Oscar Qualifying Festival. I hope we have many more to follow hopefully.”
WADE depicts the adversities of climate change, and nightmarish consequences of taking Nature for granted. Set in a dystopian future Kolkata, ravaged by sea level rise, a group of humans and an ambush of tigers face off on the flooded streets in this struggle for existence. The tigers have migrated to the city as the world’s largest delta, the Sunderbans have been completely destroyed.
Back in 2018, when I first saw the trailer of WADE, I was astounded and something in me knew that this film is going to be big someday. Don’t know whether it’s due to being a Bengali or being so close to Kolkata and the Sunderbans, that I’ve felt deeper connections with this animated film, especially after seeing what wreckage super cyclone Amphan caused. Today it feels great to see the film getting all the attention and coverage it deserves.
WADE also bagged the ‘Audience Award’ at Brooklyn Film festival and ‘Best Art Direction Award’ at Animayo Las Palmas festival, Gran Canaria which is also a qualifier for the Academy Awards.
Three other Indian animator’s work have also been selected at BSIFF 2020 – Divakar Kuppan, Bimal Poddar and Balaram J. We will bring more about their amazing animated shorts soon. Stay tuned and support local animated content!