Ishan Shukla Creates History; ‘Schirkoa’ Becomes First Animated Short from India to Qualify for the Oscars

Filmmaker Ishan Shukla has a big reason to celebrate 2016 — his film, Schirkoa, has become the first Indian animated short to qualify for the Oscars.

While the film was not ultimately shortlisted in the final 10, it won worldwide critical acclaim.

“It was the record-breaking year in this category and being my first film, I am happy that it made it this far. I also got to know it is the first ever Indian animated short to ever make it to the Oscar long list in the history of Academy Awards,” Ishan wrote on his website. The 14-minute short film tells a dark tale of a politician.

Set in a dystopian city where everyone is a ‘bag-head’ (they wear bags over their heads), the animated short takes viewers on a vivid and visually-rich experience.

Ishan, a BITS Pilani dropout, made the film in a span of four years on his personal computer. The film has been screened in 30 festivals and has won the top honours in 13 of them so far. It is also the first Indian animated short film to win the Best of Show at SIGGRAPH Asia Macao. It has been adjudged the Best Animated Short Film at the Sydney World Film Festival as well.

Ishan now plans on making the film public by publishing it on Vimeo, the popular online video platform.

Watch the trailer here:

All pictures: www.ishanshukla.com

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