One of the biggest Indian Film Festivals outside of India, the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne has just announced its nominations for its annual awards ceremony. The festival is presented by the Victorian Government, is an annual festival that takes place in the cultural melting pot, Melbourne. This year’s theme of the festival is Courage with over 58 films selected and to be screened in 21 languages.
Apart from an exciting line up of some of the best Indian film talent set to visit the city to attend the celebrations at the festival, the annual award night will be held on 8th August the Palais Theatre, which is an iconic landmark of the city.
Each year the festival has had the privilege of some of the biggest Australian film talent on the jury panel. After a successful past few years, this year the jury comprises of some of the most renowned and reputed names of the Australian film industry. The festival’s Jury this year boasts of award winning filmmakers, actors and writers. 2019 will see an impressive array of new jury members added to the festival with returning name including Jill Bilcock who is an Academy Award Winning editor of films like ‘Moulin Rogue’, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Elizabeth’.
Joining her for the first time on the IFFM Jury will be the year legendary filmmaker and screenwriter, Fred Schepisi. Fred is an iconic name in the global film industry and a veteran whose work includes the cult classic Will Smith starrer, ‘Six Degrees of Separation’. Other noteworthy jury members are actress Victoria Hill known for her work in films like Macbeth, First Reformed and The Chaperone and Vince Colosimo who is an AFI award winning actor.
The nominations for 2019 are as follows:
Best Indie Film – Widow of Silence, Bulbul Can Sing, The Gold aden SHeep and the Sacred Mountain, Namdev Bhau, Bhonsle, Chuskit, Bhoga Khirkee
Best Director – Sriram Raghavan for Andhadhun, Zoya Akhtar for Gully Boy, Thiagarajan Kumararaja for Super Deluxe, Rima Das for Bulbul Can Singh, Praveen Morchhale for Widow of Silence, Jhanu Barua for Bhoga Khirkee and Abhishek Chaubey for Sonchirya
Best Actress – Tabu for Andhadhun, Neena Gupta for Badhaai Ho, Alia Bhatt for Gully Boy, Rituparna Sengupta for Ahaa Re, Jigmeet Dewa Lhamo for Chuskit, Zerifa Wahid for Bhoga Khirkee
Best Actor – Ayushman Khuranna for Andhadhun, Ranveer Singh for Gully Boy, Vijay Sethupathi for Super Deluxe, Manoj Bajpai for Bhonsle, Amitabh Bachchan for Badla, Vicky Kaushal for Uri The Surgical Strike, Namdev Gaurav for Namdev Bhau
Best Film – Andhadhun, Gully Boy, Badhaai Ho, Sui Dhaaga, Super Deluxe
