Manick Sorcar
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Manick Sorcar (formal name Prafulla Chandra "P.C." Sorcar) is an
Indian American Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from India. The terms Asian Indian and East Indian are used to avoid confusion with Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the United States, who ar ...
artist, animator, engineer, and laserist. Sorcar is an artistThe Animator
(Trans World Features, Interview, 2004)
in various media, including fine arts, cartoons, animations, laser arts, and world-touring stage shows with live action mixed with laser animation. His animated films, all based on children's stories from India, have won prestigious awards at international film festivals and been broadcast on the
Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the ...
for 25 consecutive years.Manick's Animation Films on US TV Stations
(Pravasi Today, 2010)
Colorado Governor Honors Manick Sorcar
(India.com, 2015)
His laser arts and animation in various forms have won global awards from the International Laser Display Association.


Early life and background

Sorcar was born on 29 November 1944. He is the eldest son of legendary Indian magician, the late P.C. SorcarManick Sorcar Wins for Rule of Twenty-One
( The Statesman, 2004)
and Basanti Devi. He has two older sisters, Ila and Gita, and two younger brothers Prodip and Provas, both of whom are magicians. He is married to Shikha Devi and has two daughters, Piya and Payal. In his youth, Sorcar was a stage assistant for his father's world-touring magic shows, where he also painted backdrops and designed the stage lighting. He chose not to pursue magic as a career as he was more interested in lighting and art, in which he also saw forms of magic. After receiving his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering (first class) from the Indian Institute of Technology, BHU, he wanted to see more of the world and came to the United States to pursue higher education in lighting technology and to practice art. He earned his master's degree in electrical engineering from the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
.Animate Magic
(
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...
, 2006)


Career


Engineering

Sorcar started his professional career as an engineer at Howard W. Butterweck and Company, an electrical consulting engineering firm in Denver, Colorado. After two years, he became a partner, and the firm changed its name to Butterweck-Sorcar Engineering, which later became Sorcar Engineering. Over the course of 40 years under Sorcar's leadership, the company flourished, and completed numerous multimillion-dollar projects, including the
Denver International Airport Denver International Airport , often referred to by locals as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , Effective Ju ...
, the Colorado Convention Center, and several sport centers in Japan and Saudi Arabian palaces. During this time, Sorcar authored three widely-used books on lighting design, used as textbooks in US and Indian universities.


Laser art and animation

Sorcar first shot to fame in the nineties when his '' Deepa & Rupa: A Fairy Tale from India'', India's first animation mixed with live action, received the Gold Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1990 and was nominated for an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
1991 Emmy Nominees
/ref> in 1991, and ''The Sage and the Mouse'' won the Gold Medal at the International Film Festival of New YorkManick Sorcar: Building bridges through art and animation
(OnlyPunjab.com, 2005)
in 1993. Other animated films he created include ''The Woodcutter’s Daughter'', which was a finalist at the International Film Festival of New York; ''Sniff'' (''Gandha Bichar''), which received the Golden Eagle from CINE; and ''The Rule of Twenty-One'', which won the Bronze Plaque at the Columbus International Film Festival. Starting in 1999, he began to create new forms of animation using lasers as a medium. His ''Calcutta Forever: A Laser Fantasy'' was recorded as the first laser-documentary screened inside a movie theater. In 2000, he received the ''Excellence in Art Plaque'' from the National Federation of Indian American Associations in New Jersey, for his laser shows ''Dancing with My Soul'' and ''India Forever''. Hosted by the Indian Consulate General of San Francisco for India's 61st Republic Day celebration on 26 January 2010, his laser documentary ''Our Republic's Birth'', which captured India's history starting from 3300 BCE to its independence from the British and proclamation as a Republic Dominion was shown at the historic Palace of Fine Arts in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
.India Republic Day 2010
(India West, January 2010)
In 2012, he produced '' Swamiji'', an hour-long laser documentary on
Swami Vivekananda Swami Vivekananda () (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta, was an Indian Hindus, Hindu monk, philosopher, author, religious teacher, and the chief disciple of the Indian mystic Ramakrishna. Vivekananda was a major figu ...
, which was praised by the critics, Ramakrishna Missions and Vedanta Societies around the world for its accurate depiction of Swami Vivekananda's life. The Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math, Howrah, India said "It was as if he was painting the events of Swamiji's life with a paintbrush before our eyes. It was fascinating." about the show which took place on 31 January 2014 at
Belur Math Belur Math () is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It is located in Belur, West Bengal, India on the west bank of Hooghly River. Bel ...
campus, attended by 15,000 people.


Filmography

* '' Deepa & Rupa: A Fairy Tale from India'' (1990) * ''The Sage and the Mouse'' * ''The Woodcutter’s Daughter'' * ''Sniff (Gandha Bichar)'' * ''The Rule of Twenty-One'' * ''Calcutta Forever: A Laser Fantasy'' (laser documentary) * ''Our Republic's Birth'' (2010) (laser documentary) * '' Swamiji'' (2012) (laser documentary)


Honors and awards

Sorcar is a three-time winner of the ILDA Artistic Award from the International Laser Display Association and is also the first Indian American to ever win this award. He first won in 2006Prestigious award for creator of Buddha laser show
(The Buddhist Channel, 2006)
for his ''Enlightenment of Buddha'', which mixed live-performance with life-size laser animation and three-dimensional visual effects on stage and won the First Place at the 2005 International Laser Display Association award contest. His second win was in 2008,ILDA honors LaserLight Magic photography with 2007 Artistic Award
(LaserFocusWorld, 2008)
for the laser photography of his laser-art ''Reflection'', which won First Place for laser photography at the 2007 ILDA award contest. His third win was for the innovative application of lasers in his production ''Light Art in Shower Ocean'', which won first place at the 2015 ILDA contest. His 2017 laser animation, ''Beautiful Mess'', won an Award of Merit at the Accolade Global Film Competition. Sorcar has received a number of honors, including the ''Bharat Samman Achievers Award''NRI Institute Achievers Award
(NRI Institute, 2011)
at the XXI Annual Meet NRI Divas 2011 of the NRI Institute in New Delhi. In 2011, Jadavpur University opened the ''Manick Sorcar Laser Animation Laboratory''. Sorcar donated laser lab equipment worth more than US$100,000 and introduced the first laser animation course at the university as a special application of lighting for degrees in illumination engineering.Wizard of light brings magic of laser to JU
(
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...
, 2011)
On 6 November 2013, at
Aalen Aalen (; Swabian German, Swabian: ''Oole'') is a town located in the eastern part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, about east of Stuttgart and north of Ulm. It is the seat of the Ostalbkreis district and is its largest town. It is ...
, Germany, he was bestowed with the ''Special Achievement Award for Cultural Enlightenment'' from the International Laser Display Association for exceptional merit in using laser display to celebrate India's heritage, and to prepare the next generation by introducing a course on laser art and animation and establishing the Manick Sorcar Laser Animation Laboratory at Jadavpur University. On 24 May 2014, at
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
, India, he received the ''IIT-BHU Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award'' for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Cultural and Enlightenment through Science and Arts. In 2015, during the
Silver Jubilee Silver Jubilee marks a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, the 25th year of a monarch's reign or anything that has completed or is entering a 25-year mark. Royal Silver Jubilees since 1750 Note: This ...
celebration for the 25th anniversary of his animation broadcast on PBS, the
Governor of Colorado The governor of Colorado is the head of government of the U.S. state of Colorado. The governor (United States), governor is the head of the Executive (government), executive branch of Government of Colorado, Colorado's state government and is cha ...
John Hickenlooper John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. ( ; born February 7, 1952) is an American politician, geologist, and businessman serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Colorado since 2021. A mem ...
congratulated Sorcar by writing:


Further reading

Sorcar's art and animation have been the subject of numerous articles, academic research papers, and books. For his simultaneous contribution to art and science, he was acclaimed as "the Renaissance Man of our time" in the book ''Voices of Colorado: Perspectives of Asian Americans'' () by Nestor Mercado, Elnora Minoza-Mercado, and Alok Sarwal. Books on Sorcar * ''World of Manick Sorcar: Where Art Becomes Magic'' (Roma Sur, 2009, )Laser Art Book: World of Manick Sorcar: Where Art Becomes Magic
( International Laser Display Association, 2008)
* ''East Meets West: The Animation of Manick Sorcar'' (Wendy Luna, 2010, )US writer pens book on India-born animator
(New Kerala, 2010)


See also

* P. C. Sorcar * List of Bengalis * List of Indian Americans * List of people from Kolkata


References


External links


Official Site

LaserLight Magic

Sorcar Engineering

Indian Magicians Web Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sorcar, Manick American people of Indian descent American businesspeople American Hindus Indian animators American animated film directors Indian animated film directors Indian emigrants to the United States Banaras Hindu University alumni University of Washington College of Engineering alumni Bengali male artists Bengali film directors American people of Bengali descent Bengali writers Living people Artists from Denver Bengali Hindus Manick 1944 births People from Tangail District