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This surely marks a high in the Indian film festival circuit! According to an announcemnt today, Osian’s-Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema will give away over Rs 1 Crore (approx. USD 250, 000) in Prize Money for its Competition Sections and Lifetime Achievement Awards.

The festival will celebrate its 10th Anniversary in New Delhi from 10-20 July, with its Mumbai Preview preceding in June 2008.

While the Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing on Cinema was introduced in the 6th Osian’s-Cinefan in 2004, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Cinema will be introduced this year, and Rs 6 lakh (approx. USD 15,000) will be presented for each category.

The Best Films in the Asian-Arab and Indian Competition sections will be awarded Rs 20 lakh each (USD 50,000) and the Best Director in each section will win Rs 8 lakh (USD 20,000).

The Special Jury Award and the Best Actor and Actress will each take away Rs 2 lakh (USD 5000).

The Best First Feature will receive Rs 2 lakh (approx USD 5000) in addition to a guaranteed support of Rs 8 lakh (approx USD 20,000) from fFOOD: The Film Fund - Osian’s Originating Development, created by Osian’s, for the next feature film.

A new competition section that deals with themes of In-Tolerance has been created this year. It will include feature and documentary films that respond to or deal with the intolerance of our times. The Best Film in this category will take home a cash award of Rs 8 lakh (approx USD 20,000).

An Audience Award is also being set up for a film in competition and will win Rs 2 lakh (approx USD 5000). In addition to these awards given away by Osian’s, the International Film Critics Federation (FIPRESCI) & the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) will give away their own awards.

Osian’s-Cinefan has emerged as one of the world’s largest festivals of Contemporary Asian and Arab Cinema, organized by Osian’s Connoisseurs of Art in association with the Government of the NCT of Delhi.

Cinefan began in 1999, as a small festival of Asian Cinema with some 27 films. In 2004, it was acquired by and merged into Osian’s Connoisseurs of Art and became Osian’s-Cinefan. Over the past nine years, it has made remarkable efforts to not only bring excellent films to Indian viewers but also to considerably widen the scope of the event itself.

In 2005, Osian’s launched IBM2 – a series of seminars, conferences and panel discussions to draw attention to the entire cycle of a film’s life.

Osian’s has also nurtured a uniquely integrated cinematic infrastructure by building and supporting the film festival, the film archive, the forthcoming arts and film complex - the Osianama – in Mumbai, and by establishing fFOOD: The Film Fund - Osian’s Originating Development, a step towards supporting young filmmakers in their efforts towards making bold cinema.

The 10th Osian’s-Cinefan has announced its Call for Entry together with Rules and Regulations for the submission of films for the festival. Please visit Osian’s website www.osians.com for information. (This piece has largely used material received from Osian’s, for the purpose of information sharing).