India is poised to make a big impact at the 84th Academy Awards, which will be held on February 26.
Among the list of nominations, 11 (including War Horse) across different categories are from Reliance-DreamWorks, a joint venture between Anil Ambani and Steven Spielberg’s respective entertainment companies, while Prime Focus Ltd has contributed to five out of the 10 contenders in the Visual Effects category, namely Tree of Life, X-Men: First Class, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Hugo.
Prime Focus company management said the work ranged from creating complex visual effects (VFX) shots for Tree of Life and X-Men, to being the lead 2D-3D converter for Deathly Hallows: Part 2. It also completed the 3D conversion and delivered stereoscopic VFX shots for Transformers, and supplied on-set equipment to Hugo.
Nishant Fadia, CFO, Prime Focus, said, “This (the nominations) gives us a lot of visibility globally… The profile of movies and the kind of work we did is getting noticed in the market, and we envisage this development will help us garner more international projects.”
Reliance Entertainment too is thrilled. Chairman Amit Khanna said, “When we tied up with DreamWorks, Anil Ambani’s vision was that this association should put India on the world film map. The 11 nominations mark the beginning of this vision.”
Spielberg’s latest period drama, War Horse, has been nominated in six categories — Best Film, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Score, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography. Another movie from the Ambani-Spielberg stable to make it to the Best Film nomination list is The Help.
Hugh Jackman-starrer sci-fi movie Real Steel has been nominated for the Best Achievement in Visual Effects category.
In 2008, Reliance Entertainment had pumped in $1.5 billion to set up a Hollywood production studio with DreamWorks. “The good show at 2012 Oscars is proof enough that our partnership with one of the best Hollywood filmmakers has been fruitful,” Khanna added.
Comments