Ontario To Roll Out Green Carpet For Bollywood

Toronto Chosen To Host 2011 International Indian Film Academy Awards




The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) announced in Mumbai that the 2011 awards will be held in the Greater Toronto Area, June 16-19. The announcement means tens of thousands of visitors to Ontario, millions of dollars for the Ontario economy and hundreds of millions of viewers watching all around the world.
Indian director Ramesh Sippy and film stars such as Dia Mirza, Celina Jaitley, Fardeen Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Preity Zinta, and Hrithik Roshan lent their support as Premier McGuinty thanked IIFA for the great honour of hosting the ceremony. Toronto will be the first North American city to host the Awards, which are held in a different international city every year.

The Awards will cap a four-day celebration of everything to do with Indian film, including a film festival and industry forum.
“Ontario is thrilled to host the 2011 International Indian Academy Awards. With so many film buffs living in Ontario, Indian film stars and executives will feel right at home. We look forward to an eventful and successful weekend and awards.”
— Dalton McGuinty, Premier of Ontario
“We are pleased to announce IIFA’s North American premiere in Toronto, Ontario in 2011. The city has much to offer and the Weekend and Awards promise to be bigger than ever as IIFA steps into Canada. We have earlier experienced a great response in Toronto with The Unforgettable Tour and hope to find the same experience with IIFA 2011.”— Mr. Viraf Sarkari, Director, IIFA


High lights

• The IIFA Awards are expected to draw over 500 people from the Indian film industry, about 40,000 visitors and an international television audience of more than 350 million.
• The first IIFA Awards were held at the Millennium Dome in London, England in 2000.
• The Toronto International Film Festival welcomes 450,000 people every year, including film executives, movie buffs and everyday citizens in a celebration of film.
• In 2007, IIFA changed their red carpet events to green carpet events to show their support for initiatives to fight climate change.