State IT minister Manab Mukherjee hands over certificates at the convocation. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

For once, the range of emotions that they usually draw on the faces of animated characters was visible on their own. Rows of happy and emotional faces lit up the first convocation ceremony of Toonz Webel Academy, held in a city hotel on Sunday.

The first batch of 50 students passed out with ?flying colours? from the animation institute. Sixteen have already been placed, while 14 have been shortlisted for recruitment by animation companies.

?Please remember that the better you perform at your new workplaces, the stronger will be the position of the academy. And we want some of you to return here to teach,? was the request to the youngsters from state IT minister Manab Mukherjee, who handed over the certificates.

?Bengal has a rich creative tradition. With humorists across generations like Rajshekhar Basu, Shibram Chakraborty and Sukumar Ray, artists from Abanindranath Tagore to Wasim Kapoor and film-makers like Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, it is no surprise that the best animation talents are coming up from the state,? Mukherjee said.

The academy is an initiative of the state?s nodal IT agency Webel with technical assistance from Trivandrum-based animation company Toonz.

State IT secretary G.D. Gautama, Toonz Animation chairman M.N.V. Nair, academy dean Mike Nichols and managing director of Webel Ravi Kant were present on the occasion.

Short animation films in 2D and 3D, made by the outgoing batch, were screened. Sugar Free showed two ants fighting Matrix-style over a cube of sugar while Castle of El Dorado followed a teenager inside his favourite video game.

?I learnt a lot and feel confident of doing well,? said Raksha Burman, one of the 13 students to be picked up by Mumbai?s Crest Animation. Raksha?s enthusiasm was shared by batchmates Mayukh Dutta and Indranarayan Dutta, who are set to join Toonz Trivandrum shortly.

It was a proud day for the parents, too. ?My daughter has received two offers and she is yet to decide which one she will take up,? smiled Mou Mazumdar?s mother.

The academy?s second batch got underway in December 2004 with 90 students while the next batch will commence soon, with around 80 aspiring animators.