A program curated by Cecilia Cosso
The eight edition of the Ca’ Foscari Short Film Festival is pleased to host Indian animator and filmaker Gitanjali Rao, one of the most creative and modern figures in Indian animation. She will present some of her most important works, in a program curated by Cecilia Cosso.
Born in Bombay in 1972, she graduated in Fine Arts at Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Arts in 1994 and started her career with the Ram Mohan Biographics, where she learnt the basics of animation. After eight years spent improving her skills through different works as illustrator, advertiser and animator, she started making her own movies. As an independent director, her talent was soon discovered by the national animation world, making her one of the most creative Indian animators. Her movies are internationally renowned and have been presented at various film festivals, winning several awards; among them the most prestigious is the Award for the Best Short film at Cannes Festival in 2006, won by Printed Rainbow (2006). She has been a juror for several International Film Festivals, including the Cannes Critic’s Week Jury for short films in 2011. She is currently working on her new film, “Bombay Rose”.
The stories of Gitanjali show the reality of Bombay – a city which she pictures empathically, portraying the lives of its citizens, young men and women who moved from their villages to find a new life. Women are usually at the centre of her animations: free and strong, they dream about their future or think about their past. Gitanjali Rao skilfully and poetically uses the silence and explores different techniques to create her magical short and feature films.
SCREENING PROGRAM:
BLUE (2006, 01’)
A girl dreams to explore space together with her cat.
ORANGE (2006, 04’)
Two young women, drinking in a bar, talk about the experience of love and loss.
PRINTED RAINBOW (2006, 15’)
An old lady, her cat and a precious collection of painted match boxes to escape from the gloomy reality.
CHAI (2013, 11’, live action and animation)
A cup of tea is the symbol linking together the lives of men and women who left their villages to start a new life in the city of Bombay.
TRUE LOVE STORY (2014, 20’)
Bombay streets become the stage of a love story swinging between reality and Bollywood’s fiction.
