# Wade (film)

Wade is an Indian animated short film written and directed by Upamanyu Bhattacharyya and Kalp Sanghvi. It follows a group of climate change refugees in Kolkata, India, as they are attacked by an ambush of Royal Bengal Tigers. It imagines futures around sea level rise, global warming, ecological disruption and mass migration.
The film was made in Kolkata by Ghost Animation and premiered at the Annecy International Animation Festival 2020, where it won the City of Annecy Award.

## Premise

Kolkata, India, in the near future, has been badly affected by climate change and sea level rise. The floodwater has forced most people to move out of the city, turning it into a ghost town. The Sundarbans forest, just to the city's southern fringe, has also been devastated, forcing a lot of wildlife, including tigers, to move north into the shell of Kolkata.
However, a few people remain in the city, wading around, looking for sustenance. A family of climate change refugees arrive in a flooded Park Street, where they are attacked by a hungry tiger. While some are killed, the rest manage to flee into a building nearby, leaving behind a blind girl who uses a raft made of plastic bottles for her conveyance.
When a much larger ambush of tigers arrives on the scene, things begin to take a dark turn when both species go to extraordinary lengths to survive.

## Production
### Writing

Writing began in April, 2016, in Mumbai. The film subsequently took inspiration from writings such as The Great Derangement by Amitav Ghosh and The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells. For reference for the background art, the crew took photographs in Park Street, Kumartuli, and Shovabazar in Kolkata. The crew made research trips to Alipore Zoo to study the movements of Royal Bengal Tigers.

### Crowdfunding

In September 2016, the film ran a successful crowdfunding campaign on the Indian crowdfunding platform, Wishberry.

### Animation

The film was animated on Adobe Photoshop, TVPaint and Krita. Production largely took place in the Ghost Animation studio in Kolkata, and the directors worked with a team of 30 artists. The film was made in a 4:3 aspect ratio to make the human-tiger standoff situations feel more 'claustrophobic'. The film was composited on Adobe AfterEffects. The sound design was executed on Ableton, and audio recordings took place in a river Vashind, Maharashtra, to add authenticity to the nature sounds and splashes.

## Festival screenings

'Wade' has played in numerous festivals globally, and also went on a domestic tour in India, playing in 23 venues across 8 cities.
| | Festival | Country | Award | Result |
| 2020 | Annecy International Animation Festival | France | City of Annecy Award | Winner |
| 2020 | Fantasia International Film Festival | Canada | Satoshi Kon Award for Best Animated Short | Winner |
| 2020 | Odense International Film Festival | Denmark | Artist Award | Winner |
| 2020 | Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films | USA | Best Animated Short, Best of the Festival | Nominated |
| 2020 | Brooklyn Film Festival | USA | Audience Award | Winner |
| 2020 | Krakow Film Festival | Poland | Golden Dragon | Nominated |
| 2020 | Melbourne International Film Festival | Australia | City of Melbourne Award | Nominated |
| 2020 | Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival | UK | Animated Encounters Grand Prix | Nominated |
| 2020 | Animayo Film Festival | Gran Canaria | Best Art Direction | Winner |
| 2020 | Austin Film Festival | USA | Best Animated Short Film | Nominated |
| 2020 | Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival | South Korea | Best Animated Short Film | Nominated |
| 2020 | Manchester Animation Festival | UK | Best Animated Short Film | Nominated |
| 2020 | Vancouver International Film Festival | Canada | Best Animated Short Film | Nominated |
| 2021 | Atlanta Film Festival | USA | Best Animated Short Film | Nominated |