Raffles College Graduate &

Animation Entrepreneur

Wins British Council Award

Raffles College graduate Wahyu Aditya was named the winner of the British Council’s International Young Screen Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 in London late last year.

At 27, the shy boy from small town Malang, East Java, may be the youngest winner thus far in the history of the competition, which also includes contenders from Brazil, China, India, Lebanon, Lithuania, Nigeria, Poland and Slovenia.

Wahyu graduated from Raffles in 2000 with a Diploma of Multimedia.

The British Council Award jury described Wahyu as, “Charismatic and highly committed to the development of an animation in Indonesia, Wahyu has it all: passion, a solid and commercial business model, and a highly participatory approach. His animation school and festival has already had real impact on the local economy through job creation and has the potential for further growth and export.�

Three years ago, Wahyu quit his job at a top television station to dedicate himself to his long-time love: animation and dreaming.

He quickly established himself by winning a number of international prizes for his quirky animations and for creating Indonesia’s first-ever animated music video for local band Padi’s hit song, Bayangkanlah (Imagine), a visual condemnation of the futility of war.

Wahyu then established the Hello;Motion School of Animation and Cinema and founded the Hello;Fest short and animation film festival, screening more than 400 local works and attracting and audience of more than 10,000 annually.

The understated Wahyu never thought he was going to win. “I thought my friends from China or Lebanon had particularly strong achievements which are very crucial to their film industries,� he said.

Wahyu’s prize includes £7500 in cash ($A16,600).