MUMBAI: Dubai will play host to the first-ever South Indian International Movie Award (SIIMA) on 21 and 22 June. The award function will reward the best works in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada cinema.

SIIMA will be an annual affair and will take South Indian movies to new territories on the lines of the IIFA.

SIIMA will reward greatest achievements in cinema during the year 2011 which will be nominated by a jury of artists and professionals from all the four industries.

Vishnuvardhan Induri, the man behind the successful Celebrity Cricket League, has conceptualised the awards function. According to a statement by the organisers, this will be the first time that the South Indian film industry will have its awards abroad. With the function, the organisers will promote South Indian cinema on a global platform that would increase overseas revenues.

Though the industry down south constitutes the largest number of films released in India and the Indian box office collections of a hit South Indian movie is at par with any hit Bollywood film, the overseas revenue of a South Indian movie is 10 per cent of a Bollywood movie, the statement observed.

The organisers have sent out invitations to all the big stars across India with a hope to get participation not just from those who have been nominated and those who are performing but from the film fraternity at large.