The Indian Film Festival 2011 – Bollywood and Beyond Calling for entries with a ‘dream’ theme for the Western Union Short Film Competition


Dreaming of a career in film? The Indian Film Festival (IFF) is delighted to announce that the Western Union Short Film Competition is now calling for entries for the 2011 Festival.

Launched in 2010 and with Western Union confirmed as the 2011 naming rights competition sponsor, this exciting competition is aimed at discovering the future Peter Jacksons, George Millers and RajKumar Hiranis of the film world. To be accepted, films must be created around the theme ‘Dreams’ and run for a maximum of ten minutes. Entries close on January 15.

Judges for the WU Awards are director Kabir Khan, actor, writer and producer, Mick Molloy, writer/director, RajKumar Hirani, and directors, Imtiaz Ali and Shimit Amin. See www.indiafilmfestival.com.au for profiles of all judges.

The judges will select three winners - one international, one from Australia, and one from New Zealand. The Australian and New Zealand winners will each receive return air fares to Mumbai and given opportunities to meet with key figures in the Mumbai film industry. The International winner will receive a return airfare to Melbourne to attend the Indian Film Festival’s GALA Awards night and introductions to Australian film industry figures. Each of the three winning films will be screened at the Indian Film Festival and on SBS (Australia), Triangle and Stratos (NZ) and World Movies (India) which boasts a daily audience of 30 million.

Last year’s Competition attracted over 200 entries and helped kick start three filmmakers careers, with both the International and New Zealand winners now working on their first feature film production and the Australian winner set to travel to India soon to work on an Indian film shoot.

The Indian Film Festival – Bollywood and Beyond screens a fabulous selection of the latest Indian features, documentaries and short films in Hindi and other languages and is proudly presented by MIND BLOWING FILMS, the leading distributor of Indian films in Australia and New Zealand. The 2011 Festival will tour to Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Auckland and take place in March 2001.

For complete entry details for the WU Short Film Competition go to: www.indiafilmfestival.com.au