Indian Film Festival of Melbourne

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) was founded in 2012. It is a State Government of Victoria funded annual festival based in Melbourne. It is presented by Film Victoria, and the provider is chosen through a tender process. The current tender provider is Mind Blowing Films, run by Mitu Bhowmick Lange who is the Festival Director of IFFM.[1] The festival has currently been provided with State Government funding till 2018. The goal of the film festival is to showcase Indian cinema to the Australian audience. The festival has streamed Bollywood films, Indie movies, documentaries, regional cinema from India etc. It also organizes short film competitions, dance competitions and a flag hoisting ceremony since it is during the time of Indian Independence day celebrations in Melbourne.[2]

Indian Film Festival of Melbourne
LocationMelbourne
Founded2012, Film Victoria
AwardsBest of Indian cinema
Websitewww.iffm.com.au

History

The festival was founded in 2012 by the State Government of Victoria. It was result of the Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division)’s policy "to strengthen Victoria's ties with the Indian film industries".[3] The policy was first released in October 2006, was funded in November 2010, and implemented in March 2012 through a tender process.

Mind Blowing Films, owned by Mitu Bhowmick Lange, won the tender in March 2012 for three years until 2014, and was given one year extensions by the Liberal National Coalition Government for 2015 and 2016. In May 2012, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the company behind the Festival was recycling films already released, and so appeared to be using government money to rebadge a festival it had already been running as a commercial enterprise.[4] In August 2017, South Indian film actress/producer Khushbu accused the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne of discriminating against non-Hindi films and film stars.[5] Mitu Bhowmick Lange responded with "I am very surprised to be honest because we have 60 films in 20 languages. The film festival has always always been about diversity," stating that some of the South Indian actors invited had not been able to attend due to busy schedules.[6]

Mind Blowing Films was again awarded the contract for 2017 and 2018 by the new State Government in November 2016.[7][8]

Telstra People's Choice Award

This award is given at the Festival for Outstanding Achievement of an Indian film in terms of box office revenue and critical appreciation for an Indian film released in that year. The award was instituted in 2014.

Recipients
Year[lower-alpha 1]FilmDirectorProducerRef.
2014Dhoom 3Vijay Krishna AcharyaAditya Chopra[9]
2015PKRajkumar HiraniVidhu Vinod Chopra[10]
2016Kapoor & SonsShakun BatraKaran Johar[11]
2017Baahubali 2: The ConclusionS. S. RajamouliShobu Yarlagadda[12]
DangalNitesh TiwariAamir Khan
2019SimmbaRohit Shetty[13]

2012

In 2012, the IFFM  curated and showed 40 films modern Indian cinema, Bengali films and popular Indian films.[14]

2013

IFFM in 2013 consisted of Bollywood dance competition. The festival went on for 20 days on 5 screens in Melbourne and opened with ‘Raja Harish Chandra’ along with the colored ‘Mughal-E-Azam’. Some of the more contemporary films included Bombay Talkies, Sholay and Talaash.[15]  Some of the guests included Pamela Chopra, Vidya Balan Prabhudeva, Farah Khan, Simi Garewal,, Kabir Khan, Onir; and Avtar Panesar.[16]

2015

In 2015, IFFM was a two weeks festival and had a theme of equality. The festival also incorporated interactive master classes, Awards Night, short film competition and Bollywood dance competition. Indian Independence day celebrations were included in IFFM from this year onwards.[17]

2016

The IFFM in 2016 opened with film parched and closed with Angry Indian Goddesses. The festival also included panel discussions about women in cinema and had guests Sue Maslin, Leena Yadav and Richa Chadha, who gave a master class on Bollywood and body positivity

Westpac Excellence In Cinema Award: Rishi Kapoor

Telstra Best Film: Kapoor & Sons

Westpac Best Indie Film Award: Parched

Westpac Best Director Award: Leena Yadav

Best Actor: Nawazuddin Siddiqi for Raman Ragav 2.0

Best Actress: Sonam Kapoor for Neerja

Western Union Short Film Festival Best Film Award: Josh Walker for Out on a Lim.[18]

2017

The Westpac IFFM Excellence in Global Cinema Award: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Best Indie Film: Lipstick Under My Burkha

Best Director: Nitesh Tiwari for Dangal

Equality in Cinema Award: Director/Actor Rahul Bose for Poorna

Best Actress : Konkona Sen Sharma for Lipstick Under my Burkha

Best Actor : Sushant Singh Rajput for Dhoni

Best Actor (Special Mention) : Raj Kumar Rao for Trapped,

Best Film : Pin People’s Choice Award : Dangal & Bahubali 2,

Leadership in cinema: Karan Johar[19]

2019

IFFM 2019 was organized at Palais Theatre. Guests included Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Tabu, Sriram Raghavan, Malaika Arora and Arjun Kapoor. IFFM in 2019 was hosted by Karan Tacker.[20]

2021

The 2021 IFFM had 127 films in 27 languages including films by 34 film directors.[21]

Best Feature Film: Soorarai Pottru[22]

Best Performance Male (Feature): Suriya Sivakumar (Soorarai Pottru)

Best Performance Female (Feature): Vidya Balan (Sherni) & Honourable mention to Nimisha Sajayan (The Great Indian Kitchen)[22]

Best Director: Anurag Basu (Ludo) & Honorary Mention Prithvi Konanur (Pinki Elli?)

Best Series: Mirzapur Season 2[22]

Best Actress in a Series: Samantha Akkineni (The Family Man 2)

Best Actor in a Series: Manoj Bajpayee (The Family Man 2)[22]

Equality in Cinema (Short Film): Sheer Qorma

Equality in Cinema Award (Feature Film): The Great Indian Kitchen[22]

Best Indie Film: Fire in the Mountains[22]

Diversity in Cinema Award: Pankaj Tripathi[22]

Disruptor Award: Sanal Kumar Sasidharan[22]

Best Documentary Film: Shut Up Sona[22]

Notes
  1. Refers to the year in which the ceremony was held.

References
  1. "Mitu Bhowmick Lange". MPavilion. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  2. Khandelwal, Priyasha (30 August 2018). "Mitu Bhowmick On Her Journey From Directing Indian TV Shows To Distributing Bollywood Films In Australia". Indian Women Blog - Stories of Indian Women. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  3. Quinn, Karl; Hawker, Phillipa (12 May 2012). "Business spin to Bollywood extravaganza". The Age. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
  4. Quinn, Karl (11 June 2012). "Bollywood Festival Recycles Films". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  5. Manish, Salvi (19 August 2017). "IFFM discriminating against non-Hindi Films". SBS. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  6. "No discrimination; we have invited South Indian stars too: IFFM". SBS Your Language (in Turkish). 18 August 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  7. "IFFM locked for two more years". Premier of Victoria. 23 November 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  8. "Can you deliver the next IFFM?". Creative Victoria. State Government of Victoria. 4 October 2016. Archived from the original on 1 July 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  9. "Telstra People's Choice Award IFFM Awards: Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2014 Dhoom 3". Mind Blowing Films. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2018 – via YouTube.
  10. "IFFM Awards Night". Indian Film Festival Melbourne. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  11. "Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2016". The AU Review. 17 August 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  12. "Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2017 Awards". CNN-News18. 12 August 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  13. "IFFM Awards 2019 winners". The Times of India. 9 August 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  14. "2012 Indian Film Festival". SBS Movies. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  15. "Indian Film Festival 2013 a great success | The Indian Down Under". Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  16. Team, The IF (22 March 2013). "2013 Indian Film Festival of Melbourne Announces Program Celebrating 100 Years o". IF Magazine. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  17. "Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2015". VicScreen. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  18. "Winners of the Westpac Indian Film Festival of Melbourne And Western Union Short Film Festival announced". The AU Review. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  19. "Bollywood Stars Shine at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2017 Awards Night". News18. 12 August 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  20. "IFFM Awards 2019 winners: Shah Rukh Khan, Zoya Akhtar, Tabu, Karan Johar and other celebrities win the award - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  21. "IFFM 2021 celebrates dynamic voices, diversity, and path-breaking cinema from India". SBS Your Language. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  22. Arora, Sumit (21 August 2021). "Indian Film Festival of Melbourne Awards 2021 announced". adda247. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
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