Wade (film) explained

Wade
Director:	Upamanyu Bhattacharyya Kalp Sanghvi
Producer:	Upamanyu Bhattacharyya Kalp Sanghvi Arya Menon Prateek Sethi Paolo Polesello
Music:	Troy Vasanth
Studio:	Ghost Animation
Distributor:	Premium Films
Runtime:	10 minutes 38 seconds
Country:	India
Language:	Silent

Wade is an Indian animated short film written and directed by Upamanyu Bhattacharyya and Kalp Sanghvi. It follows a group of climate change refugees in Kolkata, India, as they are attacked by an ambush of Royal Bengal Tigers. It imagines futures around sea level rise, global warming, ecological disruption and mass migration.

The film was made in Kolkata by Ghost Animation and premiered at the Annecy International Animation Festival 2020, where it won the City of Annecy Award.

Premise

Kolkata, India, in the near future, has been badly affected by climate change and sea level rise. The floodwater has forced most people to move out of the city, turning it into a ghost town. The Sundarbans forest, just to the city's southern fringe, has also been devastated, forcing a lot of wildlife, including tigers, to move north into the shell of Kolkata.

However, a few people remain in the city, wading around, looking for sustenance. A family of climate change refugees arrive in a flooded Park Street, where they are attacked by a hungry tiger. While some are killed, the rest manage to flee into a building nearby, leaving behind a blind girl who uses a raft made of plastic bottles for her conveyance.

When a much larger ambush of tigers arrives on the scene, things begin to take a dark turn when both species go to extraordinary lengths to survive.

Production

Writing

Writing began in April, 2016, in Mumbai. The film subsequently took inspiration from writings such as The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh and The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells. For reference for the background art, the crew took photographs in Park Street, Kumartuli, and Shovabazar in Kolkata. The crew made research trips to Alipore Zoo to study the movements of Royal Bengal Tigers.

Crowdfunding

In September 2016, the film ran a successful crowdfunding campaign on the Indian crowdfunding platform, Wishberry.

Animation

The film was animated on Adobe Photoshop, TVPaint and Krita. Production largely took place in the Ghost Animation studio in Kolkata, and the directors worked with a team of 30 artists. The film was made in a 4:3 aspect ratio to make the human-tiger standoff situations feel more 'claustrophobic'. The film was composited on Adobe AfterEffects. The sound design was executed on Ableton, and audio recordings took place in a river Vashind, Maharashtra, to add authenticity to the nature sounds and splashes.

Festival screenings

'Wade' has played in numerous festivals globally, and also went on a domestic tour in India, playing in 23 venues across 8 cities.

!!Festival!Country!Award!Result

2020	Annecy International Animation Festival	France	City of Annecy Award	Winner ^[1]
2020	Fantasia International Film Festival	Canada	Satoshi Kon Award for Best Animated Short	Winner ^[2]
2020	Odense International Film Festival	Denmark	Artist Award	Winner ^[3]
2020	Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films	USA	Best Animated Short, Best of the Festival	Nominated ^[4]
2020	Brooklyn Film Festival	USA	Audience Award	Winner ^[5]
2020		Poland	Golden Dragon	Nominated ^[6]
2020	Melbourne International Film Festival	Australia	City of Melbourne Award	Nominated ^[7]
2020	Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival	UK	Animated Encounters Grand Prix	Nominated ^[8]
2020	Animayo Film Festival	Gran Canaria	Best Art Direction	Winner ^[9]
2020	Austin Film Festival	USA	Best Animated Short Film	Nominated
2020	Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival	South Korea	Best Animated Short Film	Nominated ^[10]
2020	Manchester Animation Festival	UK	Best Animated Short Film	Nominated ^[11]
2020	Vancouver International Film Festival	Canada	Best Animated Short Film	Nominated ^[12]
2021	Atlanta Film Festival	USA	Best Animated Short Film	Nominated ^[13]

External links

• Annecy Announces Special Prize, MIFA Pitch Prize Winners
• The Asian Short Films of the 2020 Annecy Festival Under the Microscope
• Poland’s ‘Marygoround’ wins big at Fantasia
• In the acclaimed 'Wade', climate change returns Kolkata to the swamps it was reclaimed from
• Our Top Animated Short Picks from Encounters Film Festival

Notes and References

1. Web site: Home > Festival > Awards > Film index Award winner. 2021-03-18. www.annecy.org. en.
2. Web site: Un succès éclatant pour l'édition virtuelle de Fantasia. 2021-03-18. Fantasia Festival. en-US.
3. Web site: The winners and nominees of OFF20. 2021-03-18. Odense International Film Festival. en-US.
4. Web site: Wade Palm Springs International Film Festival. 2021-03-18. psfilmfest.org.
5. Web site: Festival Winners @ Brooklyn Film Festival. 2021-03-18. en-US.
6. Web site: Wade - Film of 60th KFF. 2021-03-18. Krakow Film Festival. en-US.
7. Web site: MIFF Archive. 2021-03-18. MIFF 2020. en.
8. Web site: 11 December 2020. Encounters Film Festival 2020 Catalogue. 2021-03-22. Issuu. en.
9. Web site: Les courts métrages asiatiques du Festival d'Annecy 2020 passés à la loupe. 2021-03-18. Cine-Asie : Votre source #1 sur l'Asie. fr-FR.
10. Web site: 서울국제만화애니메이션페스티벌. 2021-03-18. 서울국제만화애니메이션페스티벌.
11. Henderson. Steve. 2020. Manchester Animation Festival 2020 Brochure. Manchester Animation Festival 2020 Brochure. 2020. 33.
12. Web site: Lang. Jamie. 2020-06-19. Annecy Announces Special Prize, MIFA Pitch Prize Winners. 2021-03-18. Variety. en-US.
13. News: Mukherjee. Anusua. 2020-09-25. In the acclaimed 'Wade, climate change returns Kolkata to the swamps it was reclaimed from. en-IN. The Hindu. 2021-03-18. 0971-751X.