Indian Film Festival of Melbourne

Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM)
Location Melbourne, Victoria
Founded 2012
Language Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, English

The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) was founded in 2012. It is a State Government of Victoria funded annual festival based in Melbourne. [1] 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. The festival has currently been provided with State Government funding till 2018.

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". 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. Mind Blowing Films was again awarded the contract for 2017 and 2018 by the new State Government in November 2016.[2].[3]

Telstra People's Choice Award

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

Recipients

YearFilmDirectorProducerReferences
2017Baahubali 2: The ConclusionS. S. RajamouliShobu Yarlagadda[4]
2017DangalNitesh TiwariAamir Khan[4]
2015PKRajkumar HiraniVidhu Vinod Chopra[5]
2014Dhoom 3Vijay Krishna AcharyaAditya Chopra[6]

Controversies

In May 2012, The Age accused the company behind the Festival of recycling films already released, and of appearing to be using government money to rebadge a festival it had already been running as a commercial enterprise.[7] In May 2013, Jude Perera, the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs, raised the issue of recycling of films at the festival, and dominance of Hindi films at the IFFM while querying the tender process that had been authorised by the opposition Government in the Victorian Parliament. In November 2013 while speaking to media he repeated those accusations.[8][9] In August 2017, South Indian film actress/producer Kushboo accused the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne of discriminating against non-Hindi films and film stars.[10] 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," and that some of the South Indian actors invited had not been able to attend due to busy schedules.[11] In December 2013, Oscar Lobo, the deputy mayor of the City of Glen Eira accused the IFFM of being "non-inclusive".[12] In February 2014, Tim Singh, the former mayor of the City of Darebin accused the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne of "not broadly consulting with the local community".[13]

References

  1. ↑ Sharma, Roshni (19 March 2014). "IFFM should involve locals". The Indian Sun. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  2. ↑ "IFFM locked for two more years". Premier of Victoria. 23 November 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  3. ↑ "Can you deliver the next IFFM?". Creative Victoria. State Government of Victoria. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Telstra People's choice award - Dangal and Baahubali 2 - IFFM 2017". Mind Blowing Films. 19 September 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2018 – via YouTube.
  5. ↑ "IFFM Awards Night". Indian Film Festival Melbourne. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  6. ↑ "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.
  7. ↑ Quinn, Karl (11 June 2012). "Bollywood Festival Recycles Films". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  8. ↑ "IFFM replete with re-runs". The Indian Sun. 21 November 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  9. ↑ Perrera, Jude (13 February 2014). "Acknowledge IFFM mistakes". The Indian Sun. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  10. ↑ Manish, Salvi (19 August 2017). "IFFM discriminating against non-Hindi Films". SBS. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  11. ↑ "No discrimination; we have invited South Indian stars too: IFFM". SBS Your Language (in Turkish). 18 August 2017. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
  12. ↑ Lobo, Oscar (10 December 2013). "IFFM can be made more inclusive". The Indian Sun. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
  13. ↑ Singh Laurence, Tim (5 February 2014). "Without consultation IFFM is mere tokenism". The Indian Sun. Retrieved 23 July 2018.
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