Film-maker Ketan Mehta and Prof. Nina Sabnani to be honoured at Animation Masters Summit 2021
Trivandrum, April 28: Renowned film-maker, media entrepreneur and a
pioneer for the Indian animation industry Ketan Mehta and pathbreaking artist, film-maker and art
academic Prof. Nina Sabnani will be honoured at the 2021 edition of
Animation Masters Summit. Organized by Toonz Media Group, the virtual Summit will be held from May 4 to
8, 2021, over the Zoom platform.
Prof. Nina Sabnani, who teaches at the IDC
School of Design, at IIT Bombay, is one of the first women artists to foray
into the field of animation in India. A brilliant visual story-teller and
recipient of several national and international awards, she received the
National Award for Best Animation Film for her film Hum Chitra Banate Hai.
A Fulbright Fellow, Prof. Sabnani has also done extensive research in the areas
of Folklore, Visual Ethnography, Participatory Film-making and learning
pedagogies of traditional artists, among others. Author of several books on
traditional art and design, Prof Sabnani has been acclaimed for her
documentaries and short-films including The Stitches Speak (Tanko Bole Chhe),
Baat Wahi Hai (It’s the Same Story) and Mukand and Riaz. In 2018
she received the lifetime achievement award (BLBA) for Illustration from Tata
Trusts at the Tata Lit Live Festival at Mumbai. Her works have been showcased
in exhibitions across the country, including the permanent exhibition
‘Discovery of India’ at the Nehru Centre, Mumbai. For her invaluable
contributions to animation and other visual art forms, spanning over a career
of more than two decades, Prof. Sabnani will be awarded the Legend of Indian
Animation Award at Animation Masters Summit 2021.
Internationally acclaimed film-maker Ketan
Mehta is best known for award-winning films like Bhavni Bhavai
(Gujarati), Mirch Masala, Maya Memsab, Mangal Pandey, Holi and Sardar
(all Hindi). Mr Mehta is also the founder of Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics,
a leading visual arts academy in India, and Cosmos Maya Studios, one of the top
animation studios in the country best known for popular animation IPs like Motu
Patlu, Kisna, Vir- the robot boy, Een-Meena-Deeka, etc. Mr Mehta is a recipient
of the French Government’s “The officer of the realm of Arts and Literature’ award. He will be awarded the Special
Contribution to Indian Animation Industry Award for his overall contributions to the industry. Both the awards
will be presented at the inaugural session of the Summit on May 4.
“Every year at Animation Masters Summit we give away
the Legend Award to a legendary animation master in recognition of their
life-long contribution to Indian Animation. Prof Nina Sabnani is one of the most
revered figures in Indian animation today. She is like a guru to all of us in
the fraternity. As a pioneering woman animator, she is also an inspiration for
hundreds of young women who aspire to join this industry,” said P.
Jayakumar, CEO – Toonz Media Group.
“Mr Ketan Mehta, who is being awarded the Special
Contribution Award, has helped put the Indian animation community on the global
map by founding one of the most successful animation studios in India. He also
played a significant role in fostering new talent by establishing the Maya
Academy,” Mr Jayakumar added.
The five-day Animation Masters Summit will include
sessions by a galaxy of stalwarts from diverse fields of media and
entertainment across the world. Legendary Indian film-maker Subhash Ghai
will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural session of the Summit. Master
sessions in the following days will be led by renowned artists and creators
including legendary ad guru Rahul daCunha, best known for spearheading
the Amul ad campaign, one of the longest running ad campaigns in the country.
Academy Award-winning screenwriter Meg LeFauve (Inside Out, Captain
Marvel, My Father’s Dragon), licensing and merchandising master and founder
of brand management company ‘Dream Theatre’ Jiggy George, award-winning
Hollywood music composer Vidjay Beerpoot (Anibo, The Little Vampire
3D, Triple Trouble) and noted animation director and producer Saraswathi
Balgam who led the team of VFX and animation artists for projects like Life
of Pi and The Chronicles of Narnia are the other masters leading
sessions this time.
The theme for this edition of the Summit is Embracing
Diversity: Finding beauty in our differences. The Summit will also have two panel discussions – one on the scope of
animation in Education Technology (EdTech) and the another curated by Animation
World Network (AWN) focussing on diversity in the kids entertainment industry.
Delegates can register
for the event for free by logging on to www.animationsummit.in
About AMS
Established
in 1999, Animation Master Summit (previously known as “Week with the Masters”),
is a not-for-profit event organized by Toonz Media Group that seeks to bring
together the most distinguished figures in the field of entertainment. It is the first significant animation
industry event to be held in Asia. Each year, Toonz brings in experts and
leading professionals working in animation from around the world to showcase
their mastery of crafts. AMS also provides a platform for young artists seeking
knowledge and inspiration to interact with the masters. Among the masters who
have graced the previous editions of AMS are Academy Award and BAFTA nominee
Rob Coleman, Academy Award nominee Bill Plympton, Academy Award Nominee and
BAFTA winner Shekhar Kapur, Academy Award winner Resul Pookutty, Academy Award
Winner Fabienne Rawley, Jean-Marie Olivier, Devdutt Pattanaik, Anjum Rajabali,
Sabu Cyril, Ravi K. Chandran, Shantanu Moitra, etc. www.animationsummit.in
About
Toonz Media Group
Toonz is a
360-degree media powerhouse with over two decades of unparalleled experience
and one of Asia’s most active animation production studios (over 10,000 minutes
of 2D and CGI kids and family content per year). Toonz, having worked with many
of the leading entertainment studios, channels and networks including Marvel,
Nickelodeon, Turner, Disney, Netflix, Dreamworks, Lionsgate, 20th Century Fox,
Paramount, Sony, Universal, BBC, Amazon, Google, Hulu, HBO and Exodus Film
Group, has several animation and live action series and feature films to its
credit. www.toonz.co