To me, technology has always been an enabler, amplifier, and accelerator of cultural sharing. Be it in the late 90s, when Yahoo Groups and GeoCities brought people from different parts of the world closer together to co-create, to share, and to discuss. I have always been enamoured by what technology facilitates as a medium for human connection.
The 2008 recession, which hit in late 2008 and carried through the first half of 2009, meant that a lot of businesses were slowing down. That created the opportunity of time and bandwidth. Social media was very new then. Those were the early and heady days of Facebook. Coming from the animation space, being a technologist and a writer, I felt the urge to reach out to kindred spirits beyond borders and countries, regardless of where they were. I was seeking fellow collaborators, me as a writer, curating artists and reaching out to them, asking if they would like to jam with me and co-create. I had written a bunch of stories, narratives, and formats, and I would bring out my stack of creative writings whenever anyone showed willingness to collaborate.
Through that process, I ended up collaborating with Edita Sliacka from Prague. We went on to co-create Pink Daisy, a preschool animated musical series, still in development and pre-production, but selected in the top six out of more than sixty entries from all over the world at the Annecy Call for Projects.
I collaborated with the amazing, eclectic, supremely talented Eloise O’Hare. We worked on a picture book, story written by me, pages painted by Eloise. She also visited India, and we interacted with several artists during her visit here. Together, we still remain the best well-wishers and kindred artist souls.
I have collaborated with Soumavo Ghosh Dastidar, based out of Kolkata, one of the most amazing and supremely talented creators I have ever met and worked with. His sense of character design, storytelling, storyboarding, overall look and feel development, as well as his dedication to giving life to the vision of a storyteller, is impeccable and unmatched. We worked together on a project called CenterStage, which is in development.
I have also collaborated with Ersi Spathapolou from Greece, where an epic poem written by me was painted into abstract paintings by her. She has held an exhibition for the same.
Other collaborations include creative jamming sessions, some of which took full shape. Sara Chong from Singapore on a quirky comic book called The Life Crashers. Jasbinder Singh from Mumbai on a show set within a traffic jam. Andrea Pizarro from Concepción in Colombia on a feature film treatment called I Can Hear You Whisper.
Working with artists in different countries, in different cultures, with different outlooks and very different styles and responses to your storytelling enriches your world view and your storytelling skills. The emergent magic of cross-pollination between two artists from radically different geographies can be extraordinary.
Taking those created works to the next level and pitching them to broadcasters and programming heads all over the world, be it at the Television Animation Conference in Ottawa, at Annecy itself in France, at MIPCOM Junior, or at PopCon Indonesia, brings yet another layer of perspective. A storyteller writing during the recession in Mumbai brings a voice. An artist in Prague brings her beautiful art. A programming head in the US or Canada views that expression through yet another lens.
Overall, it is a very enriching experience. The stuff of which life is made.