About 'Bollywood and beyond'

'Bollywood and beyond' is one of Europe's major Indian film festivals, screening the widest selection of Indian movies. The film program includes approximately 60 films from all regions of India. Beside the big Bollywood Blockbusters the festival is dedicated to Indian Arthouse Cinema and documentaries. It screens films that are produced beyond the Hindi film industry and aren't very well known in Germany.   

The idea for 'Bollywood and beyond' was born at the 2004 'Stuttgart meets Mumbai' wine festival, organized by honorary consul Andreas Lapp. What started out as a celebration of the town twinning between the cities of Stuttgart and Mumbai in 2004 ad continued to grow into an individual event. Visitor numbers have steadily increased from 3.500 guests in 2004 to more than 13.000 visitors last year. In 2009 ca. 25 Indian guests visited the festival to personally promote their films. The festival has become an important institution for the cultural exchange. ‘Tea-Talks’ offer information about Indian politics and society. In 2006 ‘Bollywood and beyond’ has been supplemented by an Indo-German Business Forum, which further enhanced the festival by giving it an economic focus.

‚Bollywood and beyond’ awards five festival prices:

• German Star of India for best feature film (endowed with 4.000 €)
• Indian Short Film Award for best short film (endowed with 1.000 €)
• Indian Documentary Award for best documentary (endowed with 1.000 €)
• Directors' Vision Award
• Audience Award (endowed with 1.000 €)