TSWF partners with The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne
The Shane Warne Foundation is extremely proud to be chosen as the charity partner for the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne.
On Friday 11 May, our Chairman Shane Warne joined the Premier of Victoria, Hon. Ted Baillieu MLA, Bollywood star Vidya Balan and the festival director Miss Mitu Bhowmick Lange to launch the festival in grand style.
“This is a great opportunity for Melbournians to get a better insight into the Indian culture. I hope that everyone gets along to support the festival and turns it into a huge success,” said Shane Warne.
Festival director Miss Mitu Bhowmick Lange, TSWF Chairman Shane Warne, Bollywood star Vidya Balan and the Victorian Premier, Hon. Ted Baillieu MLA
Indian Film Festival of Melbourne
The 2012 Indian Film Festival of Melbourne will run over 2 fabulous weeks.
Taking place from June 11 to June 22 at Hoyts Melbourne Central, with 10 of India’s most exciting film figures as special guests, the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne presents a dynamic program of screenings and master classes, appealing to cinephiles, lovers of Indian culture and filmmakers across its twelve day program.
Festival director Mitu Bhowmick Lange said, “This is a double celebration; of the world’s biggest film industry, in all its crazy diversity, and multicultural Melbourne with its shared taste for spicy food, cricket and movies.”
The festival in its first year is screening an extraordinary 40 films celebrating the dizzying breadth of
Indian film culture, including 20 Australian premieres. The films range from Bengali art house to Hindi mass entertainment and South Indian action; from “masala” movies (lots of ingredients all cooked in the same pot) to regional art house plus a program of rarely seen films from the wider subcontinent including Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal, specially curated for the festival by acclaimed Indian New Wave director, Onir.
It will allow film fans to experience the vibrancy, energy and spectacle of Indian cinema, the Festival will showcase the incredible depth and diversity of the thriving Indian film scene.
Over 35 films from the latest and greatest Bollywood box‐office blockbusters, through to art house and independent cinema exploring the grittier realities of life in the region, and a program of little‐seen films from the wider sub‐continent, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal will be screened. The Festival will also run four masterclasses with leading Indian film industry figures, for Victorian filmmakers to tap into the wealth of Indian film knowledge and experience.
Highlights include opening night film KAHAANI, starring Vidya Balan; SAVING FACE, the winner of this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary; CHATRAK, from Sri Lanka, shot in Calcutta and the Hindi film, MICHAEL, starring one of India’s finest actors, Naseeruddin Shah.
There’s also DELHI BELLY, a box office phenomenon shot in English and described by the Hollywood Reporter as “a sexy, filthy, and thoroughly entertaining comedy that marks a welcome shift in contemporary Indian Cinema” and URUMI, the second most expensive Malayalam (Mollywood) film ever made, a rip-roaring period fantasy set in 16th century Kerala.
Closing the festival is MEMORIES IN MARCH, starring Rituparno Ghosh, one of India’s most respected, not to mention fascinating filmmakers. Rituparno will be here to introduce the film and take part in a Q&A session.
The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne is a Victorian Government initiative that aims to strengthen ties between the Indian film industry and Victoria and will be delivered by Mind Blowing Films.
