Schirkoa () is an Indian 14-minute animated short film written, directed, and animated by Ishan Shukla. On its premiere, the short film qualified for The Academy Award after winning the 'Best Animated Short' award at LA Shorts Fest. It's the first Indian animated short to ever qualify for the Oscars. It also won the 'Best in Show' award at SIGGRAPH Asia.
Premise In the city of Bag-heads, a politician is torn between his career, brothels and his love for a shadowy woman.
Production First conceived as a graphic novel in 2012, Shukla worked on it on and off along with a day job for four years. The short was created using Autodesk Maya, Adobe Creative Cloud and Redshift. Schirkoa was funded through personal savings. Shukla's wife Sharad Varma served as the producer of the film. Although the film is made in 3D, it has a stylized 2D look that's been achieved through a number of techniques.
Accolades Schirkoa has been screened in over 50 film festivals all over the world. It will continue its festival run till mid 2018. +List of Awards and NominationsYearAwardCategoryResult2017American Movie AwardsBest Animated Short2017ARFF InternationalBest of the Best2017Athens AnimfestSpecial Mention2016Tapiales International Film FestivalBest Animated Short2016SIGGRAPH AsiaBest in Show2016The Great Indian Film and Literature FestivalBest Animated Short2016Oaxaca Film FestivalBest Animated Short2016Venice Film WeekBest Animated Short2016LA Shorts FestBest Animated Short
Reception Schirkoa has been listed in the Zippy Frames Annual list of Top animated shorts of the 2016. Jeroen Van Rossem of Kortfilm calls it "frequently reminiscent of Blade Runner, Brazil, Children of Men and 1984. Cult Critic Magazine praises the mature theme of the animated film, calling it "a prototype for a much longer feature or series".
References
External links Official Website Sound design & composer Schirkoa at the Internet Movie Database