PRESS RELEASE
The 2014 Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM),taking place from 1 – 11 May, is delighted to announce the nominees for the inaugural Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) Awards.The nominees were announced in Mumbai last week by the Victorian Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business, Louise Asher.
Five international awards – Best Performance Male Award, Best Performance Female Award, Best Director Award, Best Film Award and Best Indie Film Award – are being judged by a prominent jury comprising of Phillip Noyce, Rajkumar Hirani.,Suhasini Maniratnam, Jill Bilcock, Simi Garewal and Rajeev Masand. The awards will be announced at a gala event at the Princess Theatre on 2 May.
IFFM Director MituBhowmick Lange said “We are thrilled to present the inaugural Indian Film Festival of Melbourne Awards and to have such a stellar list of industry figures from India and Australia on the jury. This list of nominees demonstrates the vibrancy and diversity of Indian film making at this time”
Dominating the nominations, with selections in all categories, is the international co-production,The Lunch Box (2013). The film will have its Australian premiere at IFFM and is releasing nationally in 2014.
BhaagMilkhaBhaag (2013) also leads the field, picking up three nominations: Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor. The film, which follows the life of one of India’s greatest living athletes and Olympian, Milkha "The Flying Sikh" Singh, stars Australian actress Rebecca Breeds and walked away with top honours at the recent Filmfare Awards, the Hindi Film Industry’s highest recognition.
In addition to the Jury Awards, the festival will award the first IFFM People's Choice Prize to the Indian film with the highest Australian box office takings in 2013.
The full list of nominees is as follows:
BEST PERFORMANCE: MALE
• Irrfan Khan – The Lunch Box
• FarhanAkhtar – BhaagMilkhaBhaag
• RajkumarYadav – Shahid
BEST PERFORMANCE: FEMALE
• DeepikaPadukone – GoliyonkiRasleela Ram-Leela
• SonakshiSinha – Lootera
• NimratKaur – The Lunch Box
BEST DIRECTOR
• RakeyshMehra – BhaagMilkhaBhaag
• RiteshBatra – The Lunch Box
• Anup Singh – Qissa
• Anand Gandhi – Ship of Theseus
BEST FILM
• BhaagMilkhaBhaag
• The Lunch Box
• Lootera
• GoliyonkiRasleela Ram-Leela
BEST INDIE FILM
• Filmistaan
• Fandry
• Ship of Theseus
Festival ambassador and India’s most revered actress, VidyaBalan, will be in Melbourne on March 28 to launch the full IFFM program.
Indian Film Festival of Melbourne
The Indian Film festival of Melbourne is the southern hemisphere's greatest annual celebration of Indian cinema and takes place from Thursday 1 to Friday 11 May. Established in 2012 as an initiative of the Victorian Coalition Government, IFFM presents a broad, curated program of films, ranging from Bollywood to art house and the sub continent across three Melbourne cinemas. The Festival hosts prominent Indian filmmakers and screen professionals, runs the Western Union Short Film Competition and provides an interactive program of master classes.