The Indo-French animated film ‘Heirloom’ has officially been co-produced in France with Paris-based Condor Films, securing a CNC grant ‘Aide aux Cinémas du Monde’. This period family fantasy marks Upamanyu Bhattacharya’s feature debut.
Bhattacharyya previously won the Annecy City Prize in 2020 for his short story “Wade.”
Set in 1960 Ahmedabad, “Heirloom” centers on Kirti, a young businessman dedicated to preserving the tradition of handloom weaving, and his wife Sonal, who is slowly dying from a genetic disease and encourages them to pivot to the power loom industry to secure their family’s future. The conflict intensifies when the couple discovers a tapestry that records their entire family history, forcing them to make peace with progress and the influence of the past. The film is animated using raw hand-drawn 2D techniques combined with stop-motion embroidery.
The film is produced by Odd & Even and Otter Studios in association with Condor Films and National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC). Condor Films, the production division of arthouse distribution company Condor Distribution, is serving as the French creative and financing partner. Other co-producers include Tarun Lakshminarayanan, Sanyukta Srinivasan and Bengaluru-based advertising agency Talented.
“Securing the Aide au Cinéma du Monde grant is a strong endorsement of Upamanyu’s vision and the film that has been six years in the making,” said Arya A. Menon and Shubham Karna of Odd & Even. “Our partnership with Condor Films brings together the richest filmmaking traditions of two countries and two film industries, and is exactly the kind of bold, borderless storytelling that Heirloom was always intended for. We can’t wait to share what we’ve created together.”
“We are truly excited to partner with Condor and help them continue their extraordinary efforts to bring South Asia’s unique projects to the world,” Bhattacharyya added. “The Cinéma du Monde grant has been something we have wanted for a long time and now we are very keen to pursue a fruitful cooperation with France thanks to it. We are very grateful to the committee for considering it!”
“It’s rare to come across an animated project that feels so unique in both its storytelling and production,” said Condor Films’ Alexis Mass and Martin Jerome. “Heirloom immediately resonated with us through its rich emotional core and extraordinary visual ambition. We are delighted to be on board with this film creatively and financially and to embark on a collaboration with such a talented team.”
The project will require a long development period through an international co-production circuit. The work was developed at the Annecy Residency in 2021, with support from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region and the Haute-Savoie Department, and was pitched at the MIFA Features Pitch in the same year. The film was released through Cannes Animation Day 2023, the Annecy Goes to Cannes showcase and the NFDC and India Film Bazaar co-production market. The project won the WIP Award at HAF (HKIFF) 2024 and was included in that year’s HAF Goes To Cannes. In 2025, the film was selected as Annecy’s work in progress, making it the only animated film on the Venice gap financing market.
