Mumbai, April 28 -- AFC WAVES 2025, the world's first international platform for original animation, VFX, AR/VR, and virtual production, has declared its top 42 finalists. Brought to life on September 8, last year, with the support of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), the competition has received close to 1900 registrations and 419 entries from around the world.
Conceived by Saraswathi Buyyala of Dancing Atoms, AFC WAVES 2025 is committed to promoting fresh storytelling in four verticals of AVGC (Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics). Following a stringent nine-month vetting process, a distinguished jury of national and international professionals such as Anu Singh, Farrukh Dhondy, Dan Sarto, James Knight, Jan Nagel, and Gianmarco Serra shortlisted the finalists. The shortlisted participants-ranging from amateur newcomers to experienced veterans-will pitch their projects in Mumbai between May 1 to 4, at the Jio Mumbai Centre. Projects represent a diverse gamut, covering 12 feature films, 9 television series, 18 short films, and 3 AR/VR experiences. The competition has enormous job creation value, with every animated VFX feature having the potential to engage between 100 to 300 people.
Saraswathi Buyyala, who has been relentlessly pitching her own projects for the last six years, highlighted the need to bridge creative concepts with viable production realities. "Nothing is impossible. Everything is possible," she asserted, highlighting her endeavors to bridge creators with such big-league distributors as Yash Raj Films, Reliance Entertainment, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, and many others.
With representatives coming from nations like Australia, France, Germany, Korea, and the UK, the program also seeks to encourage co-productions and promote India's global creative connections. Saraswathi is personally negotiating with embassies to enable these collaborations.
In addition to competition, AFC WAVES emphasized mentorship by providing masterclasses with industry icons like Oscar winner Guneet Monga and award-winning producer Shobu Yarlagadda. All participants, finalists or otherwise, enjoyed this valuable learning experience. The three winners shall each receive an award of cash prize worth INR 5 lakh. Due to its unequivocal emphasis on novelty and complete government backing, AFC WAVES 2025 is likely to be a harbinger of change for the country's animation industry and
media arena.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.