— Photo: Bijoy Ghosh

DIGITAL ASSETS: N. R. Panicker (left), Chairman and CEO, Accel, with Omar Kaczmarczyk, founder and Managing Director, LongTale, at a press conference in Chennai on Wednesday. — Photo: Bijoy Ghosh

CHENNAI: Accel Animation Studios, a division of Accel Transmatic Ltd., has tied up with LongTale International of the U.S. to develop, co-produce and distribute animation movies for the global market.

Accel is involved in developing content for 3 D animation and visual effects. LongTale is a well-known name in Hollywood and a recognisable company in the digital media and intellectual property rights management space. The two companies signalled their alliance by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday.

The tie-up will see Accel Animation produce 133 episodes of Tirukkural-based stories. LongTale, in turn, will market these stories to a global audience. Further, the two will jointly develop and co-produce an English language animation feature film titled `Cityzens' in association with Los Angeles-based Netrikan Entertainment. Omar Kaczmarczyk, Managing Director of LongTale, will be the Executive Producer of this film. The MoU will also help Accel provide digital re-mastering services for LongTale's Shockwave collection of digital assets.

A nascent division (started in July 2006), Accel Animation has developed 40 minutes of visual effects with single character animation for an upcoming Hindi feature film titled `Friends Forever'. It is also in the advanced stages of completing `Raju the AutoRikshaw', a full-length English language animated DVD move for Kahani World of Canada.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, N. R. Panicker, Chairman of Accel, said the company had four strategic business units — Trasmatic Systems (specialising in payment collection system and CRM solutions), Ushus Technologies (deals with embedded software), Accel Animation Studios and Accel IT Academy (engaged in IT education business). It had invested around Rs. 2 crore in Accel Animation Studios. Currently, it had 50 animators. This number would go up to 150 in 12 months, he said.

V. S. Sundararajan, Advisor to Accel Animation, said the Indian animation market was estimated at $285 million.

Omar Kaczmarczyk of LongTale observed "animation is evergreen and will never die."

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