Jijo Sengupta

Popularly known as Jijo Sengupta, Anannya Sengupta is an award-winning Indian filmmaker, director, screenwriter, Co-founder of AAJ Media Productions. Jijo was born in India on October 13, 1993. Jijo's interest in animation dates back when he was 3 years old and made his first animation movie when he was in the 7th grade. As a child, he was always fascinated by films and it was something that inspired him significantly. He grew up watching cartoons and was fascinated by them and always looked forward to more. During all those years, he strongly realized the sense and presence of a story in every single element. He was fascinated with the idea of Storytelling. He moved to USA to pursue his academic rigor. He got his BS in New Media Interactive Development (Class of 2016) and later pursued his MFA degree in Films and Animation (Class of 2019) at Rochester Institute of Technology, NY. He began his directing career while pursuing his masters in Films and Animations from Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, USA, with his award-winning animated student film - Ping Pong'd. He was fortunate to have worked as an animation intern for the movie 'The Minions' at Illumination Entertainment, part of Universal Studios in 2014. He was involved with several animation shorts and live action films as a Director, Actor and a Composer at the School of Film and Animation at RIT, NY. After his masters, Jijo was getting good opportunities from renowned production houses from Hollywood, but he wanted to contribute to the Entertainment industry in India, his home country and the place where he was born. Leaving behind a lucrative career in the USA, he decided to start his own company in India, giving birth to a new trend bringing the fusion of Hollywood and Bollywood, which he popularly calls the Holly-Bolly way. His company AAJ Media Productions was recognized as one of India's best Media and Entertainment start-ups in 2020. Jijo Sengupta is a recipient of several accolades, such as the Madrid International Film Festival (2018) for one of his animated short film. He also loves to write songs and perform in his music videos. Red, The One, Mastermind and L.A.W. are his major award-winning music videos. His short films and all his music videos, have got several national and international awards. His winner short film Ping Pong'd also got featured in Film, the Magazine (July 2018 edition).