ENTERTAI MEMt ENTERTAI ME TANDE TERTAINME

ollywood has come co town an d this winter w ill be abuzz with events, celeb rities, g uests, screenin gs and master-classes for lndian film lovers in Melbourne. The cinematic feast of diversity has many SLLtnptuous offe rs for cine-goers From June L1-22, the festival will showcase over 40 Jilms from art-ho use w mass enter tain ment, an imation co new wave. mainly from the Indian s u bco n tinent along w ith a selection of especially rnra te d fi lms from Bangladesh, Pa kistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

The piece de resistance will be tbe presence of stunning fo rm er i'vliss Wo rld and BollywoodStar P riya nka Cho pra and fab abs Bollywood ac:tor Shahid Kapoor for the o p ening night on J rn1c 1 I Affec tionately known as the Young Com mander, Tamil

Superstar Vijay will a lso be p resent before the screening of Na11bm1 (Tamil remake of 3 lrliots) o n J une 12.

Other festival guest.~ in clude

I n dia's respec ted B engali fihn maker Rituparno Go!th, a\1,.rrd- winning writer/director Kunal Kohli and acclaimed p rod ucer/director Vick y Bahri . I nteractive master classes will be cond LLcted by filmmak er fuljk uma.r

Hirani and screenwriter Abb.ijat Joshi the successful cl , ,o behind I n dia's largest grossing films Mannabhai and 3 Jc/jots

I ndian designer Sabyasacl1 Mukherjee w ill h old a master class them<.:d a.ro u nd 'Talking Through Fabrics-' while award-\vinning director Jugal [ lansraj will share his kn owledge an d und erstan ding of opportunities through animation. T h e master classes arc designed co create di alogue between l ndian and Victori an film practi tioners.

A panel disc ussion on cop roduction possibilities between Australia and India will be c.xplored and comribu tions will be sought co realize this mutual cinematic connection.

·n1e popul~r Western Onion Sh orr Film Competi tion will be h eld again to , mearth new filmmakers an d help them to realize their d reams. The theme of this year's competition will be 'Connections'. A panel of judges including R a jkwna.r llirani, Mick Molloy, Kabir Khan and Kunal Kohli wlll sdcct the winning entries from India, Australia an d New Zealand Th e wi nnin g 1-i lms will also find exposure d Lu-ing tl, e Festival.

Festi,,aJ D irector Mitu B howmick

Lange. h as been successfully b ringing Bollywood to Melbo urne since the first I n di an F ilm F es tival held in April 2009. As a director (> f ~lin d Blowing Films that c urrently distributes Indian film and tl1eatrical releases in Australia, New Zealand and F iji, Mitu B howmick Lange livc$, loves and d reams fadia.n li lrns 1-lc r passion is shared with the hard wo rking team at Mind Blm1~ng F ilms Together t hey assiduo us!)' prepare for this major event by encouraging creativ ity and Jivcr.sity.

The P remier of Victoria Ted B aillieu J\Uncl B lowing

F illlls as the suc.;cssful t<:ndercr fo r the p re sentation of the Festival this year ''l'he V ictorian Government is com min:cd to strengthening ti cs berween Victoria a n d Inp.ia as well as developing a g r cacer muLual understan ding of our respective screen ind ustries", Mr Baillicu said at the P ress Conference held at the Investmen t Centre on Collins Street. lndian Film Festival 20 12 brand ambassador actress Vidya B alan and Fc.~tival D irector .Mi ru Bhowmick bo1.h invited Melbournians to celebrate ilic @ms and iilm makers o f the world's biggest cinema industry. right in the heart of !vfel bourne "This festival h as always believed tl1at cinema (like that other Ln dian obsession, cricket) can bridge the gap between different cultures and last year severa.Lmagic mom(:OtS only c emente d that bclid," said 11itu.

"This year again there is something for everyone!" she ad d c<l.