National Indian Film Festival of Australia is the first and only national annual celebration of Indian cinema in Australia.
The festival will celebrate Indian cinema and its links with Australia as an integral part of Australian cultural and screen landscape.
Welcome to the National Indian Film Festival of Australia 2026
The first and only national annual celebration of Indian cinema in Australia.
Building on an extraordinary 2025 debut, NIFFA returns in 2026 with an expanded and more ambitious program. This year, the festival will run over 20+ days and across 7 metropolitan cities nationwide, with additional regional centres joining our growing NIFFA Regional Network.
NIFFA 2026 will bring you the very best of Indian cinema — from regional and independent voices to mainstream icons — alongside a strengthened industry program featuring panels, masterclasses, and discussions on co-productions, investment, distribution, and development.
Following unprecedented support from the Australian and Indian film industries, NIFFA continues to offer professional prizes, grants, and industry opportunities across post-production, distribution, and film completion.
We proudly celebrate one of the world’s most prolific and widely consumed film industries — Indian cinema in all its languages, genres, and creative richness — while building powerful cultural and cinematic bridges between Australia and India.
Step into the world of cinema like never before!
Our Aims and Objectives
- A proudly Australian initiative, NIFFA will be injecting all the benefits, both financial and artistic, into the Australian economy and creative industries sector.
- To have a regular annual national platform for celebrating Indian cinema and its audience in Australia and to have ongoing meaningful dialogue for stronger film links between the two countries.
- To maximise the benefits for Australia from the growth of the Indian film industry by educating Australians about the art, culture, and commerce of the Indian film industry, the biggest film industry in the world.
- To present the broad and diverse range of Indian national cinema (not restricted to mainstream Bollywood) to a wide Australian audience.
- To foster and develop Indo-Australian screen production and attract investment from India into the Australian screen sector.
- To educate and inform both state and federal departments of trade, tourism, education, and screen development in the rich potential of the national Indian cinema industry and its vast opportunities.
- To enrich and grow the diverse Indo-Australian culture through seminars, screenings and workshops related to Indian cinema.
- To showcase Australia as a trade, tourist, and education destination to over a billion Indians through high-end PR, marketing, and promotion of the NIFFA in India.
- Boost Australia’s travel and tourism industry through a focused spotlight on one state every year. NIFFA will have a host state/city every year where the majority of physical functions will be organised.
- To promote Australia and NIFFA’s host state as a popular tourist destination to the lucrative Indian market by way of media coverage and sponsorship of the event.
Background
Australia is the most professional film industry in the world and India is one of the most prolific film industry.
The ‘marriage’ between the two is a win for all, especially Australia. Thankfully, this is a love marriage and not a forced or arranged one.
- Australia and India have signed a co-production treaty which came into force on 19th November 2023. (CLICK HERE )
- Australia was the focus country at the International Film Festival of India 2024, held in Goa.
- Coincidentally, around the same time, India increased subsidies for screen projects shooting in India particularly those from co-production countries, which now includes Australia. (CLICK HERE)
- The Indian Diaspora is now the second largest in Australia and is a cohort desiring to tell their very own diverse Australian stories.
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Unsurprisingly, the Indian screen sector remains one of the fastest-growing screen production sectors in the world, offering ample investment, collaboration, co-production, and work opportunities, particularly for professionals from Australia.
- Trade, tourism, and education, among other sectors, are seeking stronger avenues of engagement with the highly lucrative and diverse Indian domestic market.
- The box office collections of Indian films in Australian mainstream theatres have increased exponentially. (CLICK HERE)
In short, there has never been a more fertile ground for Australian screen content with India.
It’s no surprise that Australia currently has more than $75 million worth of India-centric screen projects in various stages of development and production, to be filmed in both countries.
All these projects are backed by screen agency development funds, the Producer Offset, and/or private investment.
Quick read
March 19, 2026
Manipuri film “Boong”, the first Indian film to win a BAFTA award, opened the second edition of the National Indian Film Festival of …
April 08, 2026
It’s being billed as the largest celebration of Indian cinema from India outside the Asian subcontinent. It’s the National Indian Film Festival of Australia and it is back for a second year….
March 27, 2026
In a landmark cultural exchange, the National Indian Film Festival of Australia (NIFFA) is being held across 14 Australian cities …
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Indian Film Festival Sydney, Indian Film Festival Sydney Bollywood and Beyond, Indian Film Festival – Brisbane, Indian Film Festival – Victoria, Indian Film Festival – Perth, Indian Film Festival – Adelaide, National Indian Film Festival Australia are all registered business names owned by International Centre for Indian Cinema Pty Ltd.
