Take you time when looking at his works as they often convey intricate storytelling constructions. Illustrator, writer and designer Somnath Pal can manage like no other to leave viewers puzzled and, in the same time, longing for more.
He worked on movies like The Candy Tree, Death of a Father, Court and Sons of Ram. In April he will however take the stage at Klokgebouw giving us peeks into his process.
Originally from Bombay, Somnath Pal is an illustrator, designer, and storyteller. After graduating a Masters in Animation from IDC, IIT Bombay, he went on to work as an assistant director on Sons of Ram, where he supervised various aspects of pre-production and production. He later served as one of the production designers on the multi-award-winning Court, directed by Chaitanya Tamhane.
Somnath’s debut film as an animation filmmaker, Death of a Father, won the prestigious Grand Gold at TBS DigiCon6, Asia’s premier short film competition. It was also considered the best short film of 2017 by Film Companion and was screened at various international film festivals including Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, Trickfilm-Festival Stuttgart (ITFS) in Germany, and Anima Mundi in Brazil.
Somnath is one of the only two Superani artists in India who are contributing to the spreading of Asian culture in the West through content such as live drawing shows, book publishing, and lectures both at home and abroad. He is also working at DNEG as an art director and trying to develop a second short on the side.
“Understand the inner workings of the body to create more room for creative liberties as an artist” is something he likes to say. In his TAD talk he will try to showcase, alongside his works, more of things shaping his observations. He will also discuss his process and how studying animation contributed to it. We can’t wait!