The students of India's Toon Club have claimed 11 of the 22 spots in the Film by Kids category at the upcoming 12th edition Animasyros International Animation Festival in Syros, Greece. These films have been created by students under the age of 17.
The 11 diverse films have been created in different styles from threadwork to paper cut-out animation. The titles include All Children Are Equal, Animal Abuse, Bloop!, Get Alive!, Global Cooling, I’ve Got Walk To Do, Out Of The Frame, Something Fishy, The Fast & The Furry, and The Great Chase.
“The uniqueness of Toon Club is that no two films are the same,” Tehzeeb Khurana, founder of the institute, said. “Children experiment with not only different principles and myriad techniques of animation, but also explore varied art styles. They are encouraged to express themselves with original ideas and their unique storytelling.
"We are constantly reinventing and redesigning our curriculum so that we don’t repeat what has been done in the past. This helps me, as an educator, to learn and grow with each animation programme,” she added.
The Toon Club was founded in 2003 to teach animation to young adults and children from the age of seven. The students have garnered acclaim and prizes around the world with 22 international awards and over 100 nominations for their works over the years.
The organization has also been associated with schools like the Ecole Mondiale World School, the American School of Bombay, Oberoi International School, Ecole Francaise Internationale de Bombay (EFIB), and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly the Prince of Wales Museum).
In the Toon Club classroom, two-way communication is encouraged, Khurana said. It makes the learning experience more enriching for both the students and for her.
The Greek animation festival will be held from 18 to 22 September.