Gitanjali Rao graduated with honors as a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai, in 1994. She is a self taught animator, filmmaker, illustrator, teacher and theatre artist. She has since, independently produced, directed and animated three award-winning short films, ‘Orange’, ‘Printed Rainbow’ and TrueLoveStory. ‘Printed Rainbow’ premiered at Cannes 2006, Critic’s Week, in Competition. It went on to win the three Awards for the best short film, at Cannes 2006. It was also short-listed in the last ten films for the Academy Awards in 2008, besides winning 25 international awards and traveling to over a hundred festivals world wide. ‘TrueLoveStory’ also premiered in Cannes Critics Week 2014, It has been screened at various international festivals and won four awards. She also has a string of very popular and award winning animated commercials to her credit. Gitanjali also conducts workshops and presentations and has been in the jury at various international film festivals including The Cannes Critics Week 2011. She has been working on two feature length animation films and is currently pursuing her next animation film. She has been teaching storytelling, design and 2D animation, in various animation schools in India.