Hindi
Lall on jury of Annecy International animated film festival
NEW DELHI: Media Entrepreneur and Hollywood film producer Bhuvan Lall and eminent animator Ram Mohan are to be members of the juries of the 32nd International Animated Film Festival of Annecy in France next month.
While Lall is a member of the Television and Commissioned programmes Jury, Ram Mohan will be a member of the Feature Films Jury at the Festival taking placing from 8 to 14 June. This year’s Annecy is special as it is paying a tribute to Indian production with three programmes of short films and two features.
There will be four juries: the short film jury has Z Big from Poland, Helene Tangay from Canada, Stephen Flint Muller (Germany), John Canemaker from the United States, and Richard Williams from the United Kingdom; and the Graduation films jury has Sylvie Porte and Allain Burose from France and David Silverman from USA.
“Apart from Lall, the other members on the TV jury are Nicole Keeb from Germany and Michel Beaudet from Canada. The Feature jury has, apart from Ram Mohan, Barry Purves from UK and Matt Greening from USA,” said Annecy Festival head of programming Laurent Million.
The Indian films in competition are in three categories. Vibrant Gujarat by Mihir Upadhyaya is the sole short film in competition. There are three TV films in competition: Camouflage and Ostrich by Priya Kuriyan, and Neki and Pooch Pooch Belly Dance by Suresh Kumar Eriyat. The three commissioned films in competition are Papa Chunnilal by Suresh Kumar Eriyat. Happy Durga Puja by Santosh D. Kale and Happy Dusshera by Kavita Singh Kale.
Apart from these, the animated feature Return of Hanuman by Anurag Kashyap and the graduation film Frobidden Fruit by Subhangi Subramaniam are out of competition.
The festival will also have an animation feature film, Sita Sings the Blues from the United States by Nina Paley of Indian origin. The film is a musical adaptation of Valmiki’s Ramayana.
The films in the Colours of India section in different categories include 30 animation films from the National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad), 15 each from Vaibhav Studios and Famous House of Animation of Mumbai, six from Nick India, five from the Animagic Special effects Pvt Ltd., two each from Industrial Design Centre and Tata Interactive Systems of Mumbai, and one each from Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics of Mumbai, Gitanjali Rao, Underground Worm, and Big Imagination of Pune. There is also one animation film from Flickerpix of Belfast.
Annecy has been the animation industry‘s leading international competitive festival for the past 45 years, presenting and promoting animation in all its different forms. The competition is open to feature films, short films, commissioned TV films and graduation films each using different animation techniques. The Festival includes film premieres, retrospectives, exhibitions and screenings.
Located close to the International Animated Film Festival, the market for Animation film is the global animation event for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing animation content across all platforms. This three-day event brings together 1700 companies and key decision makers in animation for TV, cinema, VOD, video games, mobile phone and publishing and provides through different networking platforms, the best environment to imagine, buy and sell animation from today and the future.
Lall told indiantelevision.com, “Annecy has long been known to have recognized cutting edge animation from all over the world and I am looking forward for participating in the prestigious event as a member of the Jury.”
Hindi
GUEST COLUMN: Why film libraries & IPs are the new engines of growth
Unlocking value through catalogue strength and IP synergy
MUMBAI:In a media landscape defined by fragmentation, platform proliferation, and ever-evolving audience behavior, the economics of filmmaking are undergoing a fundamental shift. No longer confined to box office performance, a film’s true value is now measured across an extended lifecycle that spans digital platforms, syndication networks, and global markets. As content consumption becomes increasingly non-linear and algorithm-driven, film libraries and intellectual properties (IPs) are emerging as strategic assets, capable of delivering sustained, long-term returns. For Mohan Gopinath, head – bollywood business at Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd., this transformation signals a decisive move from hit-driven models to portfolio-led value creation. In this piece, Gopinath explores how legacy content, when intelligently repurposed and distributed, can unlock recurring revenue streams, why the interplay between catalogue and original IP is critical, and how media companies can build resilient, future-ready entertainment businesses.
For all these years, we thought that a film is successful if it performs well in theatres. There are opening weekend numbers, box office milestones, and distribution footprints that gave a good picture of how the movie has done commercially and also tell us about its cultural impact. However, there are multiple platforms today, always-on content ecosystem, which has caused a shift. Today, the theatrical performance is not the culmination of a film’s journey but merely the beginning of a much longer and more dynamic lifecycle.
Film libraries today are emerging as high-value, constantly evolving assets that deliver sustained returns well beyond initial release cycles. This becomes a point of great advantage for legacy content owners with diverse catalogues, to shape long-term business outcomes.
According to FICCI-EY, the media and entertainment industry of India achieved a valuation of Rs 2.78 trillion in 2025 which is expected to reach Rs 3.3 trillion by 2028 through a compound annual growth rate of approximately 7 per cent and digital media will bring in more than Rs 1 trillion to become the biggest sector which generates about 36 per cent of overall market revenues.
This shift is the expansion of distribution endpoints. We know how satellite television was once the primary secondary window but today, it coexists with YouTube, OTT platforms, Connected TV, and FAST channels. Each of these platforms caters to distinct audience demographics and consumption behaviors, helping content owners to obtain more value from the same asset across multiple formats.
For instance, films that had great reruns, now find continuous engagement across digital platforms. On YouTube, classic Hindi cinema continues to attract significant viewership, reaching audiences across generations and geographies with remarkable consistency. At Shemaroo Entertainment, this is reflected in our film library shaped over decades as part of a long association with Indian entertainment. From classics such as Amar Akbar Anthony to much-loved entertainers like Jab We Met, Welcome, Dhamaal, Phir Hera Pheri, Dhol, Golmaal, and Bhagam Bhag, many of these titles continue finding new audiences while retaining their place in popular memory. Their enduring appeal reflects how culturally resonant stories can continue creating value over time. Similarly, FAST channels have created curated, always-on environments where catalogue content can continue to thrive through star-led and genre-based programming.
This multi-platform approach has very well transformed films into long-tail IP assets which are capable of generating recurring revenue across advertising, subscription, and syndication models.
The evolution of audience behavior is equally important. Nowadays, it’s more important to find what’s more relative than what’s recent as viewers are more influenced by mood, memories, and algorithmic suggestions than by release schedules. Even if a movie was released decades ago, it can trend alongside a newly released movie, if surfaced in the right context. Thoughtful packaging, whether through festival-based playlists, actor-driven collections, or genre clusters, allows catalogue content to remain dynamic and continuously discoverable. Shemaroo Entertainment has built extensive film libraries over decades and its focus has mostly been on recontextualizing content for the consumption of newer environments. This process doesn’t just include digitization and restoration, but also re-packaging of films as per platforms.
Syndication itself has evolved into a key growth driver. In perspective, when looking at the domestic market, curated content packages continue to find strong demand across broadcast and digital platforms. Meanwhile, in the international market, especially in markets like Middle East, North America and Southeast Asia, the appetite for Indian content is opening up new monetization avenues. Here, the ability to package and position catalogue content effectively becomes as important as the content itself.
Importantly, the need to re-package catalogue content does not diminish the role of new content. In fact, originals and fresh IP are essential to sustaining the long-term value of a film library because they act as discovery engines that bring audiences into the ecosystem, while catalogue content drives depth, retention, and repeat engagement.
This interplay between the “new” and the “known” is what defines a robust content strategy today. While new films generate spikes in consumption, catalogue titles offer familiarity and comfort. These are factors that are increasingly valuable in an era of content abundance and decision fatigue. This is also shaping our strategy, drawing value from both a deep catalogue assets and a growing focus on original IPs to strengthen long-term audience engagement and build more predictable revenue streams.
There is growing recognition that long-term value in entertainment will be shaped not only by how intelligently existing content continues to live, travel and find relevance, but also by how consistently new stories are created to renew that ecosystem. In that sense, film libraries and original IP are not parallel bets, but reinforcing engines of growth. For media companies, the opportunity lies in making these two forces work together, because that is increasingly where more resilient and predictable businesses are being shaped.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
