Talks
Animating the Anthropocene
Upamanyu Bhattacharya, Ashwika Kapur, Kalp Sanghvi
MAP presents a screening of the award-winning, animated short film, Wade that brings to life the climate change nightmare, along with a discussion by the film’s creators. Set in a Kolkata ravaged by rising sea levels, the film follows the story of a face off between a group of humans and an ambush of tigers on the flooded streets of the city. Human-animal conflict is not new to the Sundarbans delta of the Bengal region, however, the climate crisis is bound to make things worse. Films like Wade not just set context for conversations around the climate catastrophe, but also reimagine how art forms like cinema can be used to evoke a new consciousness.
Join this conversation with the co-creators of Wade, Kalp Sanghvi and Upamanyu Bhattacharya, moderated by Ashwika Kapur, as they discuss the film and different forms of filmmaking to highlight the current climate crisis in the world.
Upamanyu Bhattacharya
Animator
Upamanyu Bhattacharya is an animator and illustrator based in Kolkata. He’s a graduate of NID, Ahmedabad. He co-directed the animated short film Wade (2020) and is currently serving as writer/director on his first animated feature length project, Heirloom.
Kalp Sanghvi
Animator
Kalp Sanghvi is an animation filmmaker and illustrator from Kolkata, India. He graduated from the National Institute of Design, India in 2016.
He co-directed and wrote the highly acclaimed animated short film Wade. His aim is to work towards creating indigenous storytelling with local flavours to connect with the audience.
Co-founder at Ghost Animation Collective, Kolkata, an animation collective which came together in 2015. His clients include Amazon Prime, Nickelodeon, Penguin Books, Wildlife Trust of India, Doctors without borders (MSF), Sony Entertainment, Animal Planet, DLF, A.R. Rahman and The Los Angeles Philharmonic among others.
Ashwika Kapur
Ashwika Kapur is a qualified science communicator and a multi international award-winning wildlife & natural history filmmaker. A Green Oscar Winner, Kapur’s time and projects in the last 7 years have been split between India, UK and New Zealand, with her work seen on various networks such as BBC, Netflix, Animal Planet among others. Over the years, she has worn many hats: as a self-shooting director/producer, a writer and researcher, a camera-operator and she recently made her debut as an International TV presenter for a conservation series on Children’s BBC.
Previously, she has been seen on Animal Planet’s Heroes of the Wild Frontiers and Discovery Channel’s Mysterious Wilds of India. She also takes time out to make conservation films on important regional, environmental stories in India. She is a professional public speaker and an educator, and regularly delivers wildlife and conservation talks in India and UK to inspire young minds towards conservation and a greener future.
