To honour the creative genius and champion of Indian animation industry, the late Arnab Chaudhuri, AnimationXpress is introducing a new recognition ‘The Arnab Chaudhuri Director’s Award’ in its second edition of Ann Awards.
Arnab Chaudhuri, known for his brave thinking and passion for excellence, was one of the pioneers of the Indian animation industry who paved the way for Indian animation to put it on the global map.
“It is unfortunate that we lost Arnab at such a young age,” says AnimationXpress India founder, chairman and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari. “A very low-key professional, with creativity oozing out of his every pore, he was extremely keen to partake his knowledge and experience to others. We want to perpetuate all the values he stood for through the Arnab Chaudhuri award in hope to carry on his creative legacy.”
Chaudhuri’s directorial animated feature, Arjun, The Warrior Prince, was a path breaking feature film that was the first Indian animation movie to be long listed at the Academy Awards. It was also a nominee for the best feature in nearly every prestigious international animation festival – Annecy, Holland, Ottawa – again a first for Indian animation.
The animation maestro had also worked with leading entertainment organisations such as Channel V, Cartoon Network and Walt Disney, where he created some of the most brilliant, memorable award winning work like Space Khalasis, Tom & Jerry, Marinate You etc. He was one of the key people behind the launch of the Turner channel Pogo in India.
Last year Chaudhuri was conferred with the ‘Legend of Animation’ award at the Animation Masters Summit by Toonz Media, for his invaluable contribution to the animation and entertainment industry of India. He was also honoured by the Animation Guild of Los Angeles during the Day of remembrance event held for artistes who passed away in 2019.
AnimationXpress’ Arnab Chaudhuri Director’s Award is a special award to recognise animation directors whose work has displayed inspiring inventiveness by pushing the boundaries of storytelling and the craft of filmmaking. The special award has two sub categories.
First one, ‘The Arnab Chaudhuri Animation ACE Award’ for emerging directors who are making their mark with their brilliant boundary pushing work that has its own unique creative voice.
The winner will be announced following a special selection committee deliberations.
The second, ‘The Arnab Chaudhuri Young Ace Award‘, is for student directors who showcase innovative creative originality.
The winning student director under ‘The Arnab Chaudhuri Young Ace Award – Short Form content’ will be awarded with a cash prize of Rs 15,001 and the winner of ‘The Arnab Chaudhuri Young Ace Award – Long fort Form content’ will be awarded with Rs 33,001. The cash prize is a joint contribution from Ashima Avasthi, Vaibhav Studios and AnimationXpress. The winners will also receive a digital tablet from our support partner HUION.
Entries for this category will be open till 5 July. The winners will be announced on 17 July after the Kids animation and more (KAM) Summit which is being held from 15 -17 July.
Chaudhuri was a man with incredible prolific ability, passion and creativity who inspired people through his unimaginable creative works and pushed everyone around him to bring out the best.
Though he is not present among us today, his works and contribution to the animation industry will keep inspiring the world.
For more information: http://kidsanimationandmore.com/annawards/index.html
