AFFI to be held in collaboration with Frames 2011

March 17, 2011 - 12:00 AM IST

Program for first and only Australian Film Festival of India has been announced. Being held in collaboration with FRAMES 2011 (www.ficci-frames.com), the 5 day Aussie film festival in Mumbai comes packed with invitation only roundtables on investment and distribution, Australian speakers at various sessions, a Bill Bennett retrospective; some of the best recent Australian features including premieres; a selection of graduate shorts from AFTRS and VCA; and a much needed platform in India for Australian film industry to effectively promote itself in the worlds film industry.

Media and Australian film industry representatives alike turned up in force to Fox Studios Australia this afternoon for the much anticipated program announcement for the first ever Australian Film Festival in India.

AFFI to be held in collaboration with Frames 2011

Among the speakers was acclaimed film director Bill Bennett who's retrospective of films was announced as being part of the festival in Mumbai later this month. In addition recent Australian feature films including the winner of 7 AFI awards (including Best Film and Best Direction 2009) and the Cannes Camera D'or Samson and Delilah, Red Hill, Mary and Max, Kings Of Mykonos, Blame, Bran Nue Dae, Uninhabited, The Loved Ones and The Horseman were all announced as part of the line up.

A special presentation of Paperback Hero, starring Hugh Jackman was also announced. All films were carefully chosen to show a rich sample of Australian culture to the Mumbai audience. The Australian Film Festival of India kicks off in Mumbai on the 23rd of March for five days. Apart from the screening of films it will also involve Australian film industry professionals speaking at FRAMES 2011 and other film events/discussions (www.aafilminitiative.org). Veteran Australian film critic Peter Castaldi and film maker Anupam Sharma are the festival directors.

Festival director Peter Castaldi says, "To be able to put together a program which mixes a complete retrospective of a filmmaker of the calibre of Bill Bennett with a great showcase of recent Australian features, in particular Bran Nue Dae, Samson and Delilah and Red Hill, each of which approaches indigenous Australia with unique points of view, and to take this program to Mumbai, is extremely exciting, in particular as we have been able to do so as a private sector initiative."

In addition to the announcement of feature films a selection of AFTRS and VCA graduate films were also detailed. These have been selected to screen as part of the festival on the 26th and 27th of March.

Festival co-director Anupam Sharma says, "In spite of sporadic bilateral industry activities, film shoots etc. I have believed that Australia is yet to properly benefit from its relationship with the world's biggest film industry -India and other non-traditional market. This was the fundamental principle behind an Australian Film Initiative and it has been most encouraging to see the launch of first and only Australian Film Festival in India receive support from Australian government and industry alike within hours and days of the announcement. I hope this initiative grows in the coming years providing loads of commercial and creative benefit to our film industry in Australia."

AFFI 2011 is the first event from An Australian Film Initiative which has a mission statement of "marketing, promoting, and distributing the Australian screen industry in emerging global markets, for a more commercially robust Australian screen culture". AFFI 2011 boasts of ambitious plans in future years to further strengthen, Australian and Indian film links that date back to the 1930s. The festival has received wide spread support and commendation from the Australian and Indian governments, film agencies and trade bodies.