Ujwal Nirgudkar Appointed Member of Oscars Academy’s Science & Technology Council | Bollywood

MUMBAI — Ujwal Nirgudkar, Oscar Academy Member & Chairman of SMPTE-India Section, who is promoting standards for Digital Cinema in India, is appointed by the Oscar Academy to serve on the 2020-21 Science and Technology Council. An Indian Resident is being invited as a member for the first time in 17 years of the council.

Nirgudkar is working in the Indian film industry for the past 39 years. Currently, he is also chief technical advisor from KPMG for “National Film Heritage Mission,” a 60 billion project under the National Film Archives, Information & Broadcasting Ministry, Government of India.

During the course of the year, the council will discuss industry liaison activities, general motion-picture technology-related issues, ideas for future council initiatives and presentations from council members on current technology topics. The council is supposed to have its first virtual meeting Oct. 12 with a brief orientation session for the new council members.

Nirgudkar had organized Oscar Academy President Mr. John Bailey’s first historic visit to India in May 2019. This visit has initiated a new relationship between the Indian film industry and the Oscar Academy. He has initiated and executed the translation of Oscar Academy’s books on Digital Technology, “Digital Dilemma-1 & 2” into Marathi and Hindi languages for the benefit of Indian film industry.

The Oscar Academy’s Science and Technology Council was created by the Academy’s Board of Governors in 2003 in response to the major technological developments taking place in the motion picture industry. Continuing a long-standing precedent of providing an industry-wide center for motion picture technology, history, education and advancement, the Science and Technology Council reestablished the Academy’s role as advocate for technology in support of the art. There are 21 Members of the Science & Technology Council, invited by the Council Executive Committee.

Currently, the following projects are under progress: (1) Academy Color Predictor (2) ACES-Academy Color Encoding System (3) Color Transformation Language (4) Digital Motion Picture Archive Project (5) Next Generation Cinema Technology (6) Solid State Lighting Project and (7) Spectral Similarity Index (SSI).

Nirgudkar said, “I am really happy and honored to be invited to join the Oscar Academy’s Science & Technology Council. The council works on various new technologies for the global cinema industry. I will get an opportunity to work with the best and experienced minds in the motion picture industry. I hope this will also help our Industry as well. I am looking forward for my first virtual meeting with the council members with great hopes.”