NEW DELHI: The Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) Film Festival will be held in New Delhi starting 22 February. Inaugurating the event will be Anand Sharma, Minister of State for External Affairs, Government of India.

The nine-day event, which runs until 1 March, will screen nine films and a documentary from ten affiliated countries including Australia, Bangladesh and South Africa.

To be held at Siri Fort auditorium, this film festival is a joint effort of the Directorate of Film Festivals and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

"This is a part of India's commitment to the IOR-ARC," said Malay Mishra, Joint Secretary (MER), Ministry of External Affairs. "We had pledged our commitment at the 7th Council of Ministers Meeting held in March 2007 in Iran. Since India is a global power in cinema, it was evident that we should start," he added.

Speaking to the press, additional director general of the Directorate of Film Festivals Neelam Kapur said, "This is a package of ten very powerful and socially sensitive films on a variety of subjects. It will also be interesting to see how cinema has evolved in these countries, and if there is some similarity with Indian cinema as Indian cinema is popular in most of the member countries."

Among the films will be Yolngu Boy, an Australian film which tells the story of three Aborigines that trek through Australia, and From so Far, a Mauritian documentary that tells the story of Indian immigration in Mauritius. Representing India in the festival will be Chak De! India.

"The director of the Australian film Stephen Michael Johnson is arriving tomorrow, and during the course of the festival we expect the directors from Mauritius, Bangladesh, Kenya and Bangladesh to come," said Mishra.

"We also expect film students and people from the film fraternity to come at the screenings," said Kapur. "The movies that will be shown at the festival will not be the same as ones screened at the IFFI. In fact, we intend to bring the Indian panorama to Delhi and Kolkata in the next few months," she added.

Asked whether this is going to be an annual event Mishra replied, "We haven't thought about this on those lines. This is something that we'll decide in the future."

The festival is wholly funded by the Government of India, and the passes will be available free of cost from February 19 at Siri Fort auditorium.

The IOA-ARC is a regional cooperation initiative established in Mauritius in March 1997 with the aim of promoting economic and technical cooperation and currently has 18 member countries: Australia, India, Kenya, Mauritius, Oman, Singapore, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Yemen, Bangladesh, Iran, Thailand and the UAE (Seychelles withdrew in 2003).