The National Indian Film Festival of Australia (NIFFA) has successfully wrapped up its inaugural edition, marking a milestone for Indian cinema in Australia.

Running from February 13 to March 2, 2025, the festival culminated with a Red-Carpet Gala and the closing night screening of Tannishtha Chatterjee’s directorial venture‘Roam Rome Mein’ at Murdoch University, Perth, after an extensive seven-city tour across Sydney, Canberra, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.

According to a press release, the festival, which brought diverse Indian stories to Australian audiences, is set to continue its celebrations with encore screenings at Dendy Cinemas and the launch of NIFFA Regional, an initiative to bring Indian cinema to regional Australia for the first time.

NIFFA’s all-woman Nomination Council, along with Festival Directors Anupam Sharma and Peter Castaldi, announced the festival’s first-ever winners:

• Best Film – ‘Superboys of Malegaon’by Reema Kagti
• Best Indie Feature Film – ‘WingMan’ (‘The Universal Irony of Love’)by Anuj Gulati
• Best International Indian Film – ‘Parikrama’by Goutam Ghose
• Best Documentary Feature – ‘Maa Oori Ramayanam’by Badrappa Gajula
• Best Documentary (Short) – ‘The Man Who Hurls News’by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan
• Best Short Film – ‘The Last Show’by Valavan Velmurugan
• Best Short Film (Special Mention) – ‘The Garmentologist’
• Post-production Completion Grant – ‘Misty’by Raja Chatterjee

Speaking on the winning, Reema Kagti, expressed gratitude for NIFFA’s platform, “I would like to thank the National Indian Film Festival of Australia for choosing Superboys of Malegaon as the Best Film and for showcasing it across multiple cities in Australia. We are thrilled that audiences resonated with this story of dreams and determination.”