Indian films to be showcased at Melbourne International Film Festival

New Delhi, July 23 (ANI): Indian filmmaking will be showcased at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) starting July 22.

An Australian High Commission release said that the MIFF is throwing the spotlight on Indian film with a showcase called 'Not Quite Bollywood' co-presented by the Australia India Institute.

The festival program says "Hanging up the dancing shoes and turning off the music, Not Quite Bollywood offers a selection of Indian cinema that moves from the glitz and glam of traditional Bollywood fare to a cutting edge, realistic and sometimes gritty perspective on modern India cinema."

To celebrate the program, Indian film superstar Aamir Khan will visit Melbourne on Friday 6th August to present his film Peepli Live in a gala presentation at the Regent Theatre. Other Indian films include The Japanese Wife, The Well and LSD, - Dibakar Banerjee and Priya Sreedharan from LSD will be guests of the Festival alongside Abhishek Chaubey who will launch his directorial debut Ishqiya.

The release quoted acting Australian High Commissioner to India Lachlan Strahan, as saying: "Australian audiences have embraced bollywood and Indian cinema in recent years. With the growing Indian diaspora in Australia, and the growing profile of India internationally, Australians are hungry to learn more about India and its diverse cultures. This festival, alongside the Australian Film Festivals we have held in India recently, offer a great prism through which Australia and India can learn more about each other."

The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an iconic Melbourne event. MIFF hosts a feast of cinematic delicacies from over 50 countries for seventeen days each winter, heavily garnished with a range of parties and special events that cast a celebratory mood over the city. The Festival enjoys annual admissions of more than 190,000, making it one of Melbourne's significant public events.

MIFF has Australia's largest film festival program and audience and has enjoyed a period of rapid expansion over the past ten years, growing its audience size by 230% since 1996. With a rich history celebrating 59 years in 2010, MIFF is one of the oldest film festivals in the world. In addition to screening films from around 50 countries, MIFF is Australia's largest showcase of new Australian cinema and most vocal champion of both emerging and established local filmmaking talent. (ANI)