This year marks the 5th Indian Film Festival of Ireland having launched in 2010. The Indian film industry turns out on average one thousand films per year, producing high quality films and a unique caliber of filmmakers whose work can be seen at the festival.
There are four strands at the inaugural film festival. They are Director in Focus – with opening and closing films - Star in Retrospective, the Debut Director and Indian Diaspora director.
According to Siraj Zaidi, the Director of the IFF, “One of the main purposes of the film festival is to market Ireland as a film location for the Indian film industry; we have achieved this end by attracting a major Indian studio film.”
Zaidi continues, “Indian film makers are still struggling to operate globally, and international co-productions are still few and far between. IFFI aims to bridge this gap. Perhaps they need strategic partners, joint ventures operating outside India as co-produce[rs], to bring their unique and numerous creative talents that can bring amazing films stories, rooted and related to India to the international audience.”
During the four days, IFFI, as it has in previous years, will host discussions with visiting film directors and writers, and showcase the best of Indian cinema, both old and new.
This year sees the festival move to September so as to link with the educational sector and bring the festival to the film schools and other primary, secondary and third level institution, in order to implement the festival’s brief of Indian cinema in the Irish education system.
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