Mumbai, India | For Immediate Release: AniMela 2026, an international festival dedicated to animation, visual effects, gaming, comics, and extended reality (AVGC-XR), will be held in Mumbai from 19 to 22 February 2026 at Whistling Woods International. The festival will bring together Oscar®-nominated animation, global creative leadership, and landmark immersive experiences, reinforcing Mumbai’s growing presence in the global AVGC-XR ecosystem.
Conceived as a cross-disciplinary platform, AniMela celebrates animated storytelling and immersive media across film, gaming, comics, and XR. The festival brings together creators, studios, students, and industry professionals through curated screenings, immersive showcases, and industry-led programming that reflect the convergence of creativity, technology, and culture.
A key highlight of AniMela 2026 is the screening of Oscar®-nominated animated films, including feature films Arco and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, along with animated shorts Forever Green and The Girl Who Cried Pearls.
The festival will also debut Titanic LBVR and Colosseum LBVR in India for the first time, offering large-scale immersive experiences that allow audiences to step inside pivotal moments of history through extended reality.
Reflecting on the festival’s vision, Anne Doshi, Artistic Director and Co-founder, said, “At AniMela, we celebrate not just skill and polish, but curiosity, risk, chaos, courage and the need to create simply because you must.”
Welcoming the festival, Chaitanya Chinchlikar, Vice President & Business Head, CTO & Head of Emerging Media, Whistling Woods International, said the campus was pleased to host a festival that nurtures young voices, encourages experimentation, and places learning and community at its core.
The 2026 edition is being shaped by an international advisory board drawn from Indian and global animation and immersive media communities. Advisory leadership includes Mickaël Marin of the Annecy Festival and MIFA, Munjal Shroff, Arjun Madhavan, executive producer Ashima Avasthi Chaudhuri, Aneta Ozorek, and filmmaker Kiran Rao.
