In early April a new festival celebrating Indian culture will be launched by London’s Southbank Centre.

Called ‘Alchemy’, the festival will feature a full programme of music, dance, literature, food, debate and fashion.

Events will range from a rare classical concert by celebrated composer A.R. Rahman to the very best UK Bhangra, to an evening of music and chat with the Grewal Family from Channel 4’s hit docu-drama The Family.
Continue reading…

A landmark exhibition which opened last month in London’s East End is showcasing beautiful photography from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – stretching over 150 years.

Titled ‘Where Three Dreams Cross’ – it features over 300 works by 70 artists covering historic and contemporary photography from the subcontinent.
Continue reading…

AIM Magazine has been granted access to some of the striking photographs featured in the ‘Where Three Dreams Cross‘ exhibition.
Here are some of the photographs on display.

.
Continue reading…

The 12th annual Asian film festival – Tongues on Fire – will host its launch this week.

It will close with the premiere of acclaimed director Sangeeta Datta’s Life Goes On. But the festival opens on 5th with an awards ceremony and lasts until 14th March.
Continue reading…

Are you a talented, ambitious filmmaker with at least two years professional experience?

Have you reached a critical point in your career where high quality industry support would help you reach the next level?

Would a mentor’s expert guidance enable you to achieve your full potential?
Continue reading…

A new book by the Paris-based Panos Institute offers a broad survey of media and cultural diversity in key West European countries together with Canada and the US.

It is also hosting a debate next week on the issue of cultural diversity in European media (details below).

How successfully is the media responding to the challenges of cultural diversity in countries such as France, Britain, Germany and the US?
Continue reading…

by Joyeeta Basu
Freelance Writer

For the first time the ION International Film Festival will bring together two of the world’s largest film industries at the vibrant Port Harcourt: from India and Nigeria.

The event, Connecting Bollywood to Nollywood, will seek to explore collaboration possibilities between the two giants of celluloid.

After Hollywood, Mumbai-based Bollywood produces the world’s largest number of feature films. Rapidly-growing Nollywood comes close on heels as the third largest.
Continue reading…

The Council of Europe is next week hosting the 3rd International Journalism and News Conference in Strasbourg, France, to discuss diversity in the media industry across Europe.
Continue reading…

A month long exhibition starting this week will look to challenge western media’s view of Pakistan “as a rogue nuclear state suffering from conflict, extremism, natural disaster and sporadic martial law”.

Organised by the Museum of Non-Participation, it will offer a newspaper supplement, an exhibition, a film and a diverse programme of film screenings, language classes, readings, a poetry symposium, makeovers, soap-opera script-writing workshops, talks and discussions.
Continue reading…

Last week the Indian television network Star TV held a day-long event in London called ‘Simply Star’. Here are some pictures from the event.

Continue reading…

Black and minority ethnic workers across the media and entertainment sectors are invited to take part in a diversity event at Birmingham’s The Drum.
Continue reading…

We reported last week that Star TV was launching a day long event next month to showcase its programming in the UK

At London’s Old Billingsgate, each Star channel will be brought to life through four dedicated zones – Star One, Star News, Star Gold and Star Plus.

And we have 5 pairs of tickets to give away…
Continue reading…

One of India’s most critically acclaimed and popular films – Mother India – has been remixed, re-edited and rescored into a 45-minute silent film. (A preview is below)

The work is a project by Kala Phool, an arts and development agency, which has brought in DJ Tigerstyle to reinterpret the score through a unique live performance.

The resulting work, called MI21, is currently on a sell-out tour across the UK.
Continue reading…

Picture above by professional photographer Sonalle, who has just completed a project called Ethnic Minorities Coming Out’, which will tour London and nationally from August 2009 until August 2010. More at her website.

The Birmingham Symphony Orchestra has joined hands with Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan & group to pay tribute to one of the world’s greatest vocalists: the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Continue reading…

Star, the India-based television network, is launching a day long event next month to showcase its programming in the UK.

The event will also serve as a type of Mela with live performances, celebrity interviews and appearances, exhibitor stalls, a food court and an array of activities for families.

The ‘Simply Star’ event will be held on 12th September in London.
Continue reading…

A former journalist, showbiz editor and television presenter is making a leap from the media industry to the charity sector to help bone barrow and blood donation charities.

Reena Combo, the former editor of Desi Xpress newspaper and then Ikonz magazine, has co-founded ‘Desi Donors’ and is organising an event in Birmingham this week to raise money for the Anthony Nolan Trust.
Continue reading…

AIM Magazine has teamed up with Media Moguls to offer readers two tickets to see a special charity match on 6th July at Lords cricket grounds.

To win answer the question below.
Continue reading…

A BBc team scooped the Radio Documentary prize this week at the prestigious One World Awards. Crossing Continents: Dharavi, by Mukul Devichand, John Murphy and Maria Balinska for Radio 4 was a special report about the audacious plan to demolish Asia’s largest slum, Dharavi in Mumbai.

Devichand first visited Dharavi in 2007, and returned a number of times before sleeping over in the slum with his producer John Murphy in March 2008. It was recorded well before Slumdog Millionarre brought the poverty of Mumbai’s slums to the big screen.

The reporter told AIM Magazine: “Like anyone who peered out of the car window at heartbreaking slums on childhood visits to South Asia, one part of me is hugely glad that India is now able to think about clearing the slums.”

“But that means it’s time for an urgent debate about what cities like Mumbai will look like in the future — and whether they’ll push the poor out into distant cramped tower blocks, storing up problems for the future. John and I were grateful to make a contribution to that discussion, and it’s wonderful to be recognised for it.”

Is media freedom being strangled across Commonwealth countries? That is the subject is a debate next week at Portcullis House in Westminster.

The event, organised by the Commonwealth Journalists Association (UK), why journalists are not better protected and media laws being ignored in many countries around the world.
Continue reading…

The prestigious One World Media Awards – regarded as the ‘Oscars’ of factual broadcasting and journalism – will celebrate its 21st anniversary at this year’s ceremony on Monday 22nd June 2009.

Among nominees for the prestigious Broadcast Journalist of the Year award are Nadene Ghouri, which AIM previously profiled here, and the BBC’s Mukul Devichand.

The 12 award categories recognise excellence in coverage of the developing world.
Continue reading…

As part of the GG2 Leadership & Diversity Awards Dinner 2009, the Asian Media and Marketing Group (AMG) are launching a hunt to find the country’s best young journalist from an ethnic minority background. The only criteria other than ability and talent is that they must be under the age of 30.

So if you know of a young talented journalist who deserves to be recognized, please nominate and help inspire the next generation of young journalists. The winner will receive a bursary cheque of £500 from the Daily Mail and will have the chance, if appropriate, of a week’s work experience on the newspaper. Closing date is Friday July 24th 2009.
Email: Minaxi Mistry / More info: GG2 Awards

The annual Muslim Writers Award takes place this week in London. Nominations for its presitigious journalism prize include writers Ziauddin Sardar, Faisal al Yafai and Kia Abdullah.

Organisers have announced a partnership with publishers group Penguin Group.
Continue reading…

The critically acclaimed band Asian Dub Foundation have announced their first UK tour in year – with a particular focus on attacking the BNP. (dates & video below)
Continue reading…

The 2009 Satyajit Ray Short Film Competition was won by Nikesh Shukla (Yam Boy) and Laura Taflinger for their film The Great Identity Swindle, it was announced last week.

“It fuses perfectly the mediums of poetry, cinema, comic books and music resulting in a hilarious study of Asian culture in contemporary Britain. I feel I learnt more about this protagonist’s life in sixty seconds than I do at the end of most Hollywood blockbusters,” said one of the judges.

The one-minute short is part of moti roti’s 60 x 60 project, where established and emerging artists from the South Asian Diaspora – twenty each from Britain, India and Pakistan – present their personal perspective on what ‘home and boundaries’ mean to them.