By News Desk
Melbourne: The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM), in association with Western Union,has announced ‘hope’ as the 2014 theme for the 2014 Western Union Short Film competition. The annual competition supports and encourages the careers of young filmmakers from India and Australia, and fosters industry ties between the two countries. Entrants will be judged by a panel of film industry leaders from India and Australia, including film directors Paul Cox and Nikhil Advani who will choose one Indian and one Australian winner.
Announcing the 2014 competition, Western Union Marketing Manager, Monika Khanna said, “It is with great pleasure Western Union will officially be hosting the Western Union Short Film competition as part of the IFFM in 2014. It affirms our continued commitment to associate the Western Union brand with Bollywood.”
“There’s a great brand fit with the theme of ‘hope’ as this year Western Union has touched over 64 million lives across more than 200 countries bringing hope and support to those who are apart, ”she said.
IFFM 2014 Director Mitu Bhowmick Lange said, “Every year we are thrilled with the wonderful fresh ideas coming from aspiring film makers from Australia and India. This year, with the topic of ‘ hope’ we are excited to see what great films the competition will inspire.”
The two winning films will be screened at the IFFM. The winning Indian filmmaker will travel to Melbourne as a guest of IFFM, where they will meet Australian and Indian filmmakers, and the Australian winner will travel to Mumbai, the home of Bollywood.
Jehan Ratnatunga the 2013 Australian winner is grateful for the opportunities the competition has given him. “Not only was my film watched by Indian film makers that are otherwise hard to reach – especially from Australia, but since winning the award I have secured development funding from Film Victoria and established a YouTube channel with 80,000 + subscribers and over 300,000 views a month.“
The 2014 IFFM takes place in April and May 2014, presenting a broad, curated program of films ranging from Bollywood to art house and the sub continent, along with a series of master classes presented by some of India’s finest filmmakers and industry leaders.
The Western Union Short Film Competition is open for entries from Indian and Australian filmmakers. To be eligible entrants must submit a film of no more than ten minutes duration which references the 2014 theme, ‘hope’.
Closing date for applications is February 28.
For more information or to download an application form, go to www.iffm.com.au
– SAT News Service
