Mumbai, February 12, 2023: India’s first-ever International Festival ‘AniMela’ for Animation, VFX, XR*, Gaming and Comics was announced  this week  by the Aniverse and Visual Arts Foundation (AVAF).
AVAF has partnered with Annency Festival, France to organize this three-day Festival which will be held in Mumbai in  November 2023.
AniMela will provide a platform for Indian talent from the AVGC-XR* industry to exhibit their work to a large international audience, while giving them an opportunity to get exposed to some of the best work that is being done internationally. Through the platform, industry meets will be held to create a space in India to celebrate artistic, technological, and entrepreneurial innovation in the AVGC-XR industry. There will be masterclasses and workshops to inspire and educate aspirants across age groups about the art and careers in the industry. It intends to create a networking and knowledge-sharing platform for young talented artists, animation filmmakers, game developers, technologists, and storytellers from India. This will help the Indian AVGC-XR industry to graduate from being a predominantly service providing industry currently, to a creator-industry with our original stories and intellectual properties populating the AVGC-XR universe world over. 
Says Kireet Khurana, Director, Aniverse and Visual Arts Foundation: “Today India’s contribution to the global AVGC-XR sector is a mere 0.5%. The global AVGC-XR sector stands at USD 800 billion. India has an immense potential to increase the share in this pie as we have world-class talent present within the country. Now with the government having taken renewed interest in this sector we envisage the AVGC-XR sector to be the next sunrise sector that will see stupendous growth in the years to come. We already have the talent present in the country. With the right kind of exposure and mentoring it’s only a matter of time that India becomes a force to reckon with.”
Adds Mickaël Marin, CEO, Annecy Festival: “We see immense potential in India not just in providing back-end support to the large studios in the west but in creating a lot of original content that is completely homegrown. There is no dearth of talent in India, it just needs to be showcased and given a larger audience.”
Adds Véronique Encrenaz, Head of The International Animation Film Market (MIFA): “I am excited to be in India to announce the launch of AniMela. We see a lot of creativity and technological knowhow in Indian animators. They are making content that is at par with any developed country in the world.

* AVGC-XR: Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics – Extended Reality