AniMela 2026 arrives at a crucial point for India’s AVGC-XR industry. From a scene once dominated by dubbed Japanese and American IPs to becoming a global creative hub, Indian animation and VFX are experiencing a major shift, and AniMela is at the heart of this transformation.
In the early 2010s, when I was growing up, animation meant Cartoon Network, Pogo, and Animatrix. For younger Millennials and older Gen Z, the animated world of our childhood revolved around Hindi or English dubs of international animated IPs: on one hand, there was Shin-Chan, Ninja Hatori, Doraemon, Kochikame, Detective Conan, and on the other, American exports like Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League (yes, I have always been a DC fan!), and SWAT Kats. When we got older, the edgier among us moved on to Death Note, Studio Ghibli, and Makoto Shinkai’s animated masterpieces. While nascent Indian animation existed, it was the exception rather than the norm.
Fast forward to now, and the Indian animation and VFX landscape has evolved beyond expectations. India has since transformed into one of the world’s most strategically important hubs for animation, visual effects, gaming, comics, and extended reality (AVGC-XR) talent. AniMela, founded by industry leaders Kireet Khurana, Tahzeeb Khurana, Archana Trasy, Neha Jain, and Anne Doshi in 2022, stands at the centre of that transformation, pushing the conversation beyond nostalgia and outsourcing to something far more ambitious: authorship.
The festival, run by the Aniverse and Visual Arts Foundation (AVAF), positions itself as both a showcase and a critical intervention — an attempt to shift how Indian animation is perceived at home and abroad. Twenty years of steady back-end work for major Hollywood and British studios have built an enormous pool of technically skilled Indian artists. Yet, as Founder & Artistic Director Anne Doshi argues, visibility has lagged behind contribution. “For so long, our artists have contributed extraordinary work to global projects, often without recognition or authorship,” she says. “Their talent has travelled the world, but their names and stories rarely did.” In her view, AniMela functions as a corrective — a space where Indian creators can stand shoulder to shoulder with their global counterparts.
In the late ’90s and early 2000s, India’s animation landscape revolved around satellite TV programming and imported content. Domestic production was limited, budgets were constrained, and animation — apart from a handful of mythological features — was rarely seen as a viable storytelling medium. Studios emerged mainly to service foreign projects, a model that offered stability but little room for creative risk. The last decade, however, has altered that trajectory. Today, Indian artists are no longer just executing tasks for their global counterparts; they are shaping world-building, character arcs, and visual languages for global IPs. The relationship between India and major US/UK studios has shifted from cost-driven outsourcing to genuine creative collaboration. With improved training ecosystems, a generation raised on global pop culture, and studios equipped with cutting-edge pipelines, India is now recognised for technical sophistication and narrative vision alike.
AniMela sits at the intersection of this transition. By convening global mentors, producers, and innovators alongside emerging Indian talent, it creates a circularity where inspiration, feedback, and opportunity flow in both directions. Its programming — screenings, masterclasses, industry labs, and portfolio reviews — reflects a sector that is raring to grow. “One of the things I feel most proud of is that AniMela has become a meeting point between the work happening in the global AVGC-XR industry and our artists here, allowing them to experience what’s happening out there and see their own work stand alongside it,” Doshi says.
The festival’s year-round ecosystem of workshops and events also underscores a broader strategic goal: to help India move from being the world’s VFX engine to becoming a meaningful contributor of original IP. AVAF’s vision of a creative marketplace — where artists pitch directly to producers, studios, and financiers — is part of a larger push to reposition India as a front-end creative force. “AniMela has always been about building confidence, visibility, and community, and about reminding young artists that their perspectives matter,” Doshi says. “Seeing the community show up year after year has given us the nudge that we’re moving in the right direction.”
AniMela 2026 will take place from 19 to 22 February 2026 at the Whistling Woods International campus in Mumbai. For more updates and information, follow @animelaindia or visit animela.in.
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