Engrossed in an animated discussion

Future beckons

The seminar explored in detail the different facets of the animation industry and its future possibilities.

In the morning, an animated film titled ‘Hexe Lilli und die Reise nach Mandolan’ (‘Lilli, The Witch 2 -— The Journey to Mandolan’) was screened. Directed by Harald Sicheritz, this film took the audience on a fantastic journey where every natural thing became magical and impossible became possible.

Sharing their experience in the industry were Artur Kubiczek, CEO and creative director at Fish Blowing Bubbles, Germany; Corinna Mehner and Carolin Dassel from Blue Eyes Fiction which produced ‘Lilli, The Witch 2...’ and Michael Coldewey, founder and CEO of TRIXTER, Germany and Jai Natarajan from Xentrix.

The key speaker of the programme, Artur Kubiczek, gave an overview of the
current animation market in Germany and explained  some of the main problems it’s facing.

“Germany has excellent infrastructure for the animation industry, be it in terms of education, state-of the-art studio systems or talent. But somewhere, we are lacking in retaining the talent who end up migrating to Hollywood, which attracts them both in terms of money and opportunity,” he said.

Michael Coldewey, who has produced a wide range of international feature films and animated TV series, critically reviewed the differences between the content of European, Indian and Hollywood films. The importance of partnership, cross-border collaborations, marketing, character selection and the need to build theatrical audience in India for animated movies were put forth by Jai Natarajan, who is part of Xentrix, one of the fast growing animation studios in the City.

“Animation is all about transforming an idea into an entertaining package and
making it appealing to the audience. In India, despite the growing demand, it is the younger audience especially the children, that is attracted to the animation sequences. So we have been working hard to make animation an interesting avenue so that we will be able to churn out more attractive products and lure audience across all age groups,” Jai said. He also showcased some sequences from famous animated movies like, ‘Noddy’, ‘Everything’s Rosie’, ‘Cosmic Quantum Ray’ and Ramayana: The Epic.

“The event turned out be an informative and invaluable  resource for youngsters like me who want to find more about the various avenues in the field of animation. It also brought forth the hard work of people behind the screen who go unnoticed most of the time. I also understood how important it is to have the skill required to develop a character and help the audience connect to it,” said Sounder Rajan, a student of animation.

The ‘Indo-German Film Festival’ is on till November 24. Entry to the festival is on the basis of delegate passes. For details, call 25205305/6/7/8 or log onto www.goethe.de/bangalore