The real Bir

On a recent trip to India, I met up with Gurshish Dhupar, who voiced Bir in the film. It's the first time I had seen him since our recording sessions in December 2007. He's a lot taller now and his voice has changed quite a bit too :) but he is still a bright, confident, budding animator and is very interested in 3D stereoscopic filmmaking. I'm sure this is not his last acting gig either.

Screening Update

YES INDIA Film Festival, Auckland, New Zealand: October 28-November 3, 2010

ASIFA-Hollywood Student Film Festival, Long Beach, California: November 6, 2010

Boston Asian American Film Festival, Boston, Massachusetts: November 11-14, 2010

REELkids Film Festival, Ontario, Canada: January 17-20, 2011
Jaipur International Film Festival, Jaipur, India: January 27-30, 2011 (Topi was one of the films screened on opening night)

India International Film Festival of Tampa bay, Tampa, FL: February 18-20, 201

San Francisco International Animation Festival

I made the badge!

This past Saturday I attended the San Francisco International Animation Festival. Unfortunately, due to a technical issue with the tape, Topi couldn't be played in its scheduled block of films. Despite my initial disappointment, I was impressed by and appreciated SFIAF programmer Sean Uyehara's efforts to make sure that the film was shown, and it eventually screened the following day. The festival itself is awesome, very filmmaker-centric and a great line-up.

A local blogger liked Topi and called it 'very powerful' :)

Upcoming/Recent screenings

Filmi Mississauga Minifest, Mississauga, Canada: July 8-10, 2010
New Orleans Intnl Children's Film Festival, New Orleans, Louisiana: July 31 - August 1, 2010  - also screened my film 'Abridged'

Temecula Valley International Film Festival, Temecula, California: September 15-19, 2010

Hench-DADA Animation Showcase, Los Angeles: September 17, 2010 - a screening organized by my school

Great Wall of Oakland, Oakland, California: October 1, 2010 - a neat outdoor screening projected onto a wall
DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival, Washington DC: October 7-16, 2010 - Topi continues to do well in Asian-themed festivals
Big Cartoon Fest, Moscow: Russia, October 28 - November 7, 2010  - Russian Premiere!
Ojai Film Festival, Ojai, California: November 4-7, 2010
San Francisco International Animation Festival, San Francisco: November 11 - 14, 2010 - organized by the San Francisco Film Society.

1947 Partition Archive

I recently learned of this really interesting Bay Area-based project to document and archive personal accounts of partition  - http://www.1947partitionarchive.org/.

Nice ink on 'Of Indian Origin'

Topi just got a mention on this neat Indian-themed creative blog.

Electronic Theater!

Topi got into Siggraph's Electronic Theater! I was stunned to hear that it will be playing alongside clips from Avatar, Tron, Pixar's Day & Night, and other awesome CG.