River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival has its first edition in October 2001 at the Rondò di Bacco Theatre of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Italy. The aim of River to River is to promote only films from and about India, and it is the first Festival of this kind in the world.
During the Festival’s first year, also Indian cinema is seeing a new life; Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan wins the Audience Award in Locarno and Monsoon Weddingby Mira Nair wins the Golden Lion in Venice. And in 2002 Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas is screened in Cannes. Furthermore, between 2001 and 2002 the influence of Indian cinema can be seen in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge and in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams, with music by the future Oscar winning A. R. Rahman.
River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival celebrates it’s tenth anniversary from 3 to 9 December 2010. During these years the Festival has grown and gained awareness among the audience, the film industry and the press. Many films have been screened and quite a few filmmakers, actors and producers have attended the Festival.
