AniMela, the first festival in India that celebrates works in animation, gaming, VFX, extended reality, and comics, announced recently that filmmaker Kiran Rao has become part of its advisory board. Speaking about joining this festival, the Laapataa Ladies filmmaker said, "I look forward with excitement to working with AniMela, a festival that nurtures imagination, spotlights emerging talent and innovations in transmedia, and embraces the future of storytelling. This is exactly the kind of platform Indian creators deserve, to  showcase their art and connect with the AVGC-XR industry globally."

Also part of the board are Annecy's Chief Executive Officer Mickaël Marin, Munjal Shroff of Graphiti Studio, Arjun Madhavan of Assemblage–Cinesite, Kaboom Film Festival’s artistic director Aneta Ozorek, executive producer and creative consultant Ashima Avasthi Chaudhuri. 

Discussing the festival, its co-founder Archana Trasy stated, "For too long, our creative communities existed in silos. AniMela breaks those walls - it’s where filmmakers meet gamers, animators meet technologists, and those collaborations can change the face of AVGC-XR in India. We are happy to welcome Kiran on the board, to help lead and guide the next wave in storytelling."

Meanwhile, Anne Doshi, the festival's co-founder, shared, "AniMela brings together creators who are pushing the boundaries of animation, gaming, comics, VFX and XR because their work deserves to be seen, challenged and celebrated on a world stage."

The festival expects Kiran to bring her storytelling commitment and vision to help its endeavour to boost the creative-technological ecosystem in India and maximise the capabilities of animation, visual effects, gaming, comics, and extended reality (AVGC-XR).