Write a short summary of what happens in the film.

India, the world’s largest democracy was slowly turning into a hotbed of hate crimes. Over the last few years the beautiful co-existence of this country’s multiple castes and cultures was being torn apart by the evil of mob lynching. Fuelled by fake news spread through a mobile phone in every hand, hundreds were losing their lives. ‘The Lynching’ was a reminder that the true fabric of this country has always been weaved by harmony. The film was created by taking inspiration from hundreds of actual cloth textures and patterns that were as varied as the diverse cultures of India, and then animating over 4110 photo-realistic frames to show how the power of peace can win over hatred and stitch back the torn fabric of a nation.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

India, the world’s largest democracy has today become the hotbed of mob lynching. Over a hundred deaths due to mob lynching in the last few years have been fuelled by social media, in the name of eating habits, casteism, religion and fake news. While hate crimes keep rising across the country, the people in power keep denying it. So the need of the hour was to send a strong message of peace. To end this greatest evil of the recent times, we choose the occasion of Pujas, India’s biggest religious festival where millions pray to Goddess Durga to slay all evil. And to spread this message, we chose Social Media, the hunting ground for such hate crimes in India.

Tell the jury about the production design / art direction.

This film from fashion brand Turtle was created as a reminder that the true fabric of this beautiful nation was always weaved by peace. The painstaking process began by sourcing and then photographing hundreds of fabric swatches representing the diverse cultures of India, in minute details. Then, every character and the entire landscape was hand-illustrated meticulously. And finally, different patterns and textures were cut and laid out to recreate every frame. These were then used as inspiration to digitally animate over 4110 frames that make this 2 min 13 second film.