Gitanjali Rao

Gitanjali Rao was born in the year 1972 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. She is a filmmaker, animator and theatre artist. She was brought up in Mumbai only. In 1994, the director pursued her graduation in fine arts from Mumbai’s Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art. Her maiden direction was an animated short film titled Printed Rainbow. It was released in 2006.

The short film was a huge success and won several prestigious awards. In the Cannes Film Festival 2006, Gitanjali’s film won the Kodak Short Film Award, Young Critics Award and the Small Golden Rail Award for this short film. At the Mumbai International Film Festival as well, the film was well-appreciated and was honoured with the Golden Conch in the Best Animation Movie category.

Gitanjali’s next directorial venture was 2013-release Shorts. The movie comprised of five short films, one of which was directed by Rao. Renowned director Anurag Kashyap Born on 10th September 1972, Anurag Kashyap has es >> Read More... and Guneet Monga Guneet Monga is a film and line producer; she main >> Read More... produced the film. Shorts were appreciated for its unique concept. The other directors who collaborated with her on this movie were Anubhuti Kashyap Anubhuti Kashyap is an assistant director. She was >> Read More... , Vasan Bala Vasan Bala, born and brought up in Mumbai, India i >> Read More... , Neeraj Ghaywan Neeraj Ghaywan is a director who was born and rais >> Read More... and Shlok Sharma.

The same year she made another short film titled Chai, which went unnoticed. In the year 2014, Gitanjali made another animated short film of the name True Love Story. She wrote and produced the film as well. The movie was 19 minutes long. It was a silent film. The film was set in the locals of the Mumbai city, which depicts the story of how a flower seller falls for a bar dancer.

The movie managed to create ripples both in the domestic as well as international film festival circuit. At the Mumbai International Film Festival in 2014, it was honoured with the Golden Conch Award in the Best Animation Film category. The same year, the movie was among the ten short films that were chosen for the Critics’ Week at the Cannes Festival in France. Orange is another award winning work animated, directed and produced by her.

Other than being a talented animator and director, Rao also devotes time to judging various festivals. She was on the panel of the Critics’ Week jury at the Cannes Film Festival 2011. Gitanjali has worked on many popular TV commercials that have won several awards. She is currently associated with the Los Angeles’ Acme Film Works. She conducts presentations and workshops to teach filmmaking and animation. Currently, the filmmaker is gearing up for another short film and two animated full-length movies.