What is Chitrakatha?
It is NID’s International Student Animation Festival that happens once every two years. Started in 2007, the festival is a celebration of art, creativity and animation and most importantly, the spirit of learning and sharing. Held in October at the beautiful and inspiring NID campus in Paladi, Ahmedabad, if you love art and animation, you really MUST NOT miss this festival.
This year, the festival begins with a small pre-event “Night of Animation” on the 18th of October, but will be officially inaugurated on the 19th morning. It goes on for 5 days this time (unlike 3 days as in previous editions).
I will be live-tweeting from the event throughout so you can follow @AllAbtAnimation for live updates from Chitrakatha.
Here are links for more information on the festival:
- Chitrakatha ’11 Website – click here
- Chitrakatha ’11 Programme – click here
- Previous Editions of Chitrakatha – click here
Here is a little more about Chitrakatha in the words of Festival Director – Sekhar Mukherjee, who also heads the Animation Department at NID.
“On one sultry summer afternoon way back in 2003, sitting at the NID main gate with fellow alumni and dear friend, Prakash Moorthy, over a cup of chai, we were immersed in a discussion on ‘Japan’, the devotion of Kinoshita couple and the story of Hiroshima Animation Festival!
Being animation film designers we all were deeply endeared, spell bound and also inspired to keep our hope alive for ‘JAPAN’ and recreate the same spirit in India , not ‘copy and paste’ but in a more genuine and original way!
Moorthy then narrated to us the ‘HIROSHIMA’ story – a unique tale of holocaust and hope, about the great Kinoshita couple and their legendary peace loving animation festival ‘HIROSHIMA AND IT’S IMPACT ON JAPANESE ANIMATION’, or more specifically the crazy Japanese graphic narrative culture which captivated the world.
Japan triggered it all and became a major energy booster. From Hiroshima Mon Amour to Tokyo Godfathers,Hokusai to Manga, Sunrise to Studio Ghibli, Morimoto to Imamura, Tezuka to Takahata all served as sources of inspiration.
We felt the adrenaline rush to do our very own Hiroshima. Instantly at the NID main gate we took the oath of celebrating the art of animation, education and more with NID animation being the central station. We envisioned a festival for all the enthusiasts, teachers, students, alumni and every person willing to contribute or participate in this fanfare for the common people and telling our tales!
In 2004 came another dear friend and fellow alumni – Arnab Chowdhury. He was associated with Cartoon Network, Hong Kong. On sharing the idea of our very own animation festival, he immediately gave a thumb up without a second thought.
It took almost a year or two for our manifesto to blossom from the oath taken inside the NID spaceship – our Macondo (courtesy Marquez). I was trying to gather courage to take it forward but pace and space was not making it easy, as everything here moved in 72 picture frames.
In January 2005 came Abonti as a blessing and in September came Isabel Herguera of Animac, assuring help and cooperation. Both of them gave me the strength of twin engines to take off, with Sudhanya being the reality checker. In 2006 came the golden support of two good friends of Chitrakatha – Shamik and Silas from Cartoon Network.
Initially named as ‘manifesto’, eventually my cow doodle milked the title ‘Chitra Katha’. Fellow friends sharing the same passion came together and we finalized the dates. Slowly and steadily, we made our dream come true the first edition of Chitrakatha was realized in October 2007.
The long awaited and much needed celebration COWfest was a grand success and we moved on to our 2nd edition of Chitrakatha in 2009 with confidence and determination. The 2nd edition’s glory brought more hope and enthusiasm to keep the spirit going.”