A new celebration of South Asian cinema will be held across the country, with the Australian Centre for Indian Cinema announcing the inaugural National Indian Film Festival of Australia (NIFFA).
Held from February 13-16, the event includes screenings in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, the Gold Coast, Darwin and Hobart.
One yet-to-be-decided city will host the opening night party, workshops, closing night film, and panels on investments, coproduction, development, and collaboration. The festival will also offer development grants for Australian screen content related to India and awards, to be announced in November.
The NIFFA is the brainchild of veteran director and Australia India Film Council chair, Anupam Sharma, who will work with festival director Peter Castadli in bringing the event to life. Dendy Cinemas, major Indian news media company NDTV, and cinema advertising company Val Morgan are on board as stakeholders.
The announcement comes 12 months after India became the 14th country to officially sign a co-production treaty with Australia, allowing projects in both countries to access government funding including grants, loans, and tax offsets.
Sharma said NIFFA would be “one of the rare film festivals which will be produced by filmmakers”.
“Australia was craving for a professional national celebration of Indian cinema, and it is an absolute honour to receive the support of mainstream Australia with Dendy as our major partner and NDTV as our media partner,” he said.
“One of the most important and exciting aspects of the festival will be the programming coverage on NDTV about Australia-India cultural and artistic ties, which will reach a potential audience of over 350 million across NDTV platforms. Money cannot buy such exposure for Australian cultural links with India.”
Castaldi was pleased to take up “such an important role in this vital Indo-Australian cultural and business initiative”.
“On the back of the co-production treaty, sparking a resurgence of film links and high box office revenue in Australasia for pan-Indian films, it makes sense to offer a national audience the opportunity to enjoy a professionally curated taster of the vitality of the amazingly rich and diverse Indian production sector,” he said.
“I look forward to working with the NIFFA to deliver exciting, informative, and entertaining experiences for all Australians.”
The program and award details will be announced on January 6.