The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) is Australia's largest festival of its kind, showcasing the best of Indian cinema in all of its forms. The festival features a wide range of films that represent the best of Indian cinema and films from the Indian subcontinent. An intriguing fact that has piqued the interest of all who are eagerly awaiting the festival's start is how the IFFM is creating a record with the most diverse female voices comprised of women filmmakers today.
These are the films and filmmakers chosen for the official programming of the 12th edition of the IFFM this year. The IFFM recently announced their programming schedule, and 33 of the 100 films chosen are noted to be by strong female voices.
Director Karishma Dube adds, “It's a massive honor for me that Bittu will be opening the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Making a short film comes with no guarantee that it will find an audience or platform, so for the film to find a home all the way across the world means the world to me. I hope I can attend the festival in person someday soon”
National Award Winning filmmaker, Rima Das adds, “It's good to hear that Melbourne Indian Film Festival is showcasing a large number of films by women filmmakers. I have closely seen how Mitu Bhowmik takes a personal interest in encouraging women filmmakers and having diverse voices. She has been doing a commendable job year after year along with her team and it's always a pleasure to be back at the festival. I am making my fifth film in my village. If I have to, all my life I can make films in and around my village because I can see so many stories around me. Then imagine how many stories are waiting to be told in a country like India with so much diversity is communities, cultures, languages etc. And each woman would have different perpectives on freedom, identity, feminism, love etc. depending on who we are and where we come from. World over male filmmakers outnumber women filmmakers by a large margin, the stories are also often told from a male's perspective. Even the top international festivals like Cannes, Toronto and Berlin are seeing a gradual rise in films by women filmmakers and women jury members. May be it would take another 10 years to see a significant change. But I am very happy that there is a serious attempt to see stories from women's voice and perspective."
