| ABOUT IFFM |
| The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne is a Victorian Government initiative that aims to strengthen ties between the Indian film industry and Victoria. |
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| Festival Director |
| Mitu Bhowmick Lange |
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Mitu Bhowmick-Lange is currently the Director of Mind Blowing Films , a film production / distribution company which specialises in Indian films.
Mitu worked in Bombay for 6 years directing several TV shows including entertainment, news and fashion magazine programs and a daily breakfast show for most of the leading channels including BBC World, Star Plus, Zee TV and Sony TV. Mitu wrote and directed the multi award-winning documentary, Watch without Prejudice, on the impact of violence on the children of Kashmir. |
Since living in Australia, Mitu has brought in and produced several Indian productions to Australia, including producing 13 episodes shot in Australia of India’s number 1 daily television serial Kahani Ghar Ghar Kii (similar to Neighbours), Bollywood film Koi Aap Saa and blockbusters like Salaam Namaste , Chak De India , Bachna Aye Haseeno , Main Aurr Mrs Khanna , Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic , Love Aaj kal and several leading television commercials with international cricketers made for the Indian market.
Mitu is the Festival Director of the Indian Film Festival - Bollywood and Beyond - ANZ , and the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne presented by the Victorian Government .She is presently working on the 4 part series - New India. The first part 'Spice Girls of India' has been the official selection at the Feminist Film Festival of London. Mitu also represents the prestigious International Film Festival of India held annually in Goa as their curator for films from Australia and New Zealand. |
| Festival Co Directors |
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John Molloy
John is currently Head of Production at iconic Australian
company Mushroom Pictures. Prior to joining Mushroom, John was a producer
at Molloy Boy Productions, a production company that produced film,
television and radio for the Australian market. In film he has worked on the
films 'Crackerjack', 'Bad Eggs', 'BoyTown' and 'Macbeth' . In television he has
worked on 'The Nation', 'Love is a Four Letter Word' and 'The Mick Molloy Show'.
In 2009 John was Series Producer of 'John Safran's Race Relations' for Princess
Pictures and the ABC. |
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Bidyut Dumra
His career in media started in 1995 in India while auditioning as a contestant for a TV quiz-show and ending up as a question writer instead. He hesitantly resolved himself to the fact that his place in the industry seemingly belonged behind the camera rather than in front of it. From TV Production he eventually made the leap to full-feature films in 2005, since then working on productions, such as, 'Salaam Namaste', 'Chak De India', 'Bachna Eh Haseeno'. |
| With corporate experience in multinational media companies, such as, Fremantle Productions and Village Roadshow, he is now a Director at Mind Blowing Films and is based in Hong Kong. He is still waiting for a breakthrough character & script to propel his acting ambitions. |
| Festival Curator |
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Onir
Born in 1969 in a small town in Bhutan, Onir – as he was to become known in India– was fascinated with filmmaking from a young age. While graduating in literature studies at Jadavpur University he simultaneously attended … in Kolkata. He won a scholarship to study film in Berlin after which he worked in Mumbai as an editor and director of corporate videos, serials, music videos and movies.
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| His directorial debut, ‘My Brother... Nikhil’ (2005), dealt with themes like AIDS and homosexuality. His latest film, ‘I Am’, consists of four short stories exploring themes including child abuse and same-sex relationships and was awarded the Triangle Media Group Honorary Award last year. |
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Uma da Cunha
One of a tiny band of people in Indian cinema, spans vital fields of the art and industry, combining several faculties.: She networks, facilitates, promotes, communicates and does so domestically and internationally. She works in three specific areas related to film: programming, writing and casting. Her film career began in 1974 when she started organizing film events for the Indian government. She then went on to programme and represent festivals in India and abroad. She is the India representative for programming for the Toronto film festival and is the Founder-Advisor of Indian film festivals held in London, Los Angeles, Stuttgart, Florence and Houston. |
She programmes for the Mumbai International Film Festival and the Kerala Film Festival. Her work as casting director includes films such as Monsoon Wedding, Holy Smoke, Lagaan and Water, among others.
She is also the Founder Editor of a film-based quarterly magazine Film India Worldwide, published out of Mumbai which is available on subscription basis and comes out in time at major film festivals, viz Cannes, Toronto, IFFI Goa and Berlin. The magazine looks ahead to fill the overlap between Indian cinema and world cinema, in terms of their needs and resources. She covers international festivals for Mumbai Mirror (The Times of India daily journal). She has been contributing the India chapter for the International Film Guide (London) for many years. Uma has contributed research and chapters on Indian cinema for leading publishing houses in Italy, Japan and Korea. Her next objective is to start mini film festivals in the name of Film India Worldwide, starting with Mumbai, her city of residence. At the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival, da Cunha was a member of the Un Certain Regard international jury and FIPRESCI jury member at the 2011 Busan International Film Festival. |
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Megha Ramaswamy
Megha Ramaswamy is a writer and programmer based in Mumbai.
She was awarded a grant by the British Council for her work as a screenwriter as part of the Indian Screen Writer’s workshop in 2008. Megha was also shortlisted for the Maishaa screenwriter’s lab, hosted by Mira Nair in 2005. Megha has worked as both a writer and researcher on several films and documentaries including TISS’s 'Naatha', and Anurag Kashyap’s ' Bombay Velvette'.
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| She was recently the programmer for the South Asian International Film Festival 2010, held in New York. |
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| Festival Publicist |
Monika Bhattacharya
Miranda Brown |
| Festival Team |
Natascha Charak
Abbey Barnes
Divya Thaper
Christopher Kosmer
Vyshnavee Wijekumar
Leanne
Tonkes
Andy Tran
Jake Ryan
ALexis Agostino
Viney Shah
Ling Ang
Scott Langman
Amanda Watson
Sania Younis
Jayden Irving |
| Festival Design |
| Catherine Donaldson |
| Booklet Writer / Creatives |
| Andy Roberts |
| Festival Website |
| Vishakha Bhuwania |
| Festival Trailer |
| Daniel Howe |
| Creative Team |
Ian Anderson
Paul Cross |
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From the Premier and Minister
Festival Director
FESTIVAL AMBASSADOR
