Chennai to host first-ever Malaysian Indian film festival

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 31 (ANI): The first Malaysian Indian Film Festival 2012 will be held at Chennai in India from January 9 to 13 in 2012.

19 movies made and produced in Malaysia by Malaysians, and released between Jan 1, 2001 and Dec 31 2011, have been nominated.

Out of these, 10 will be shortlisted to compete for six awards including Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and the Jury Award.

"The judges in the selection process are from Finas and other national bodies," Star Online quoted Malaysian Indian Conference (MIC) Youth chief T Mohan as saying.

"We will also be showing all shortlisted movies to the public during the festival," he added.

Mohan said the idea for the festival came from a dialogue session with the Tamil Nadu Artiste Association six months ago.

"We hope the festival will encourage more Malaysian filmmakers regardless of race to produce more Indian-language movies in the future," he said.

"We also encourage non-Indian filmmakers in Malaysia to attend the festival as the directors from India are keen to collaborate and produce movies," he added.

The award presentation will be attended by Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam on January 11.

The festival is being organised by the National MIC Youth Arts and Culture Bureau and KL Indian Artistes Association. (ANI)