As the world becomes increasingly flat, more and more local institutions are branching out to other countries in bids to attract and retain the world’s finest talent. This week, Vancouver’s Film School (VFS) launched three new international offices in Taiwan, South Korea and Mexico City, as well as bolstering one of its most active attaches in Mumbai, India. The goal is quite simple: To provide the right crop of graduates for an industry that has moved beyond the glitzy borders of Hollywood.

"The entertainment sector has really turned from a localized industry into a much more global industry where studios in three different countries might contribute to one production," said Benjamin Colling, director of admissions at VFS. "It has become a world-wide network."

To stay competitive as an academic institution, VFS has gone global, creating overseas admissions offices staffed by ESL and entertainment industry experts geared attract the world’s brightest to one of the school’s 13 one-year programs in Vancouver.

Having set aside close to $600,000 to find 70 of the best and the brightest in the areas the international offices serve, VFS is offering scholarships that range from $3,000 to $15,000 - a lifetime windfall for many young Asian students.

"We’ve invested a lot of our own personal funds so that we can help support international students from around the world because our Korean students, as well as our Indian students, all bring a tremendous amount of dedication," said Colling. "A lot of them sacrifice quite a bit to come here because we’re not inexpensive."

VFS tuition ranges from $10,000 for the acting program to $53,000 for film production, added Colling. The scholarships, which are awarded only to the most talented, act as an incentive for those who normally could not afford to study abroad.

Each VFS overseas office is strategically located to tap into the local entertainment industry. Along with The Philippines, fast-developing nations like Taiwan, Mexico and South Korea have all been ramping up animation production over the past several years.

The ability to master advanced computer technology coupled with low labour costs puts these countries in a prime position to develop a lucrative, local animated film industry.

But perhaps the greatest success story of the past decade is India, home to Bollywood.

By 2010, Bollywood’s annual revenue is expected to rise to $3.4 billion — which is still no where near Hollywood’s take, but as 40 per cent of India’s 1.2 billion-population is under the age of 18, the market inside India is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.

Dorothy Mathias — who used to work in one of India’s largest entertainment conglomerates, The Modi Group — is an international admissions advisor at VFS’s office in Mumbai, Bollywood’s headquarters. She says VFS is well situated to feed Bollywood students professionally trained in sectors like sound design and 3D animation — "all disciplines that are in demand right now in India."

Last year, 20 VFS graduates, including many originally from India, joined a team of 150 special effects artists at Mumbai studio Rhythm and Hues for Disney’s blockbuster, The Golden Compass.

The $250 million animated film, starring Nicole Kidman, was awarded accolades for its lifelike creatures and stunning backgrounds.

As Bollywood positions itself in the global market, it continues to court Hollywood’s biggest and best movie studios, including Viacom, Walt Disney Co. and Sony Corp. According to Bloomberg, it looks as though DreamWorks is close to receiving $550 million in funding from Indian billionaire Anil Ambani, allowing Steven Spielberg’s film studio to split from Viacom Inc. as early as November. The deal would enable DreamWorks to become an independent production studio once again, and take Ambani one step closer to realizing his international ambitions.

Driving much of Bollywood’s growing relationship with Hollywood is India’s computer animation sector, which is on the brink of exponential growth according to a recent report by NASSCOM, India’s software trade organization. The size of the Indian animation market, estimated at $285 million in 2005, is expected to increase to $950 million by 2009, much of it driven by the entertainment sector (68 per cent).

However, finding the talent to drive such growth is still a major challenge according to experts. Rajesh Rao, the CEO of Dhruva Interactive, told Time Magazine that few of India’s art schools and engineering colleges offer computer animation courses.

In an attempt to bolster India’s animation/entertainment industry, Minister of State for Education Vasu Deo Devnani announced funding for four more animation institutes scheduled to be opened in Jodhpur, Ajmer, Kota and Udaipur.

According to the Times of India, so far only one academy exists in Jaipur, which was opened last year by the government in a private partnership deal.

Not surprisingly, a spot at VFS is highly coveted in India. Within two days of announcing the new scholarship, Mathias said her system was "flooded" with requests.

"Our students from this area believe quite correctly that if they receive a VFS education that will open up global job opportunities," said Mathias.

"They also see Vancouver as an extremely clean and beautiful place to accomplish this. Vancouver is known in India and the Middle East as a multicultural city and this makes their parents feel comfortable in letting their children leave the country without too much worry."

Situated in one of the most diverse cities in the world, VFS is well positioned to channel talented youth through the movie-magic alliances being between East and West.

By offering scholarships to its foreign students, VFS appears eager to supply the entertainment industry with the very talent it needs to succeed in the 21st century.