NEW DELHI – The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) announced Tuesday that the 14th IIFA Awards will be held in Macau – often dubbed the Las Vegas of Asia — from 4-6 July. The event’s official destination partner will be the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, a luxury hotel and casino resort owned by the Las Vegas Sands. This marks the second time the IIFAs will be held at the same venue after 2009.
IIFA is organized by Mumbai-based event management company Wizcraft Entertainment who also run Kingdom of Dreams, a live entertainment and cultural venue near Delhi.
The IIFA announcement was made at the Kingdom of Dreams by leading Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan and actress Jacqueline Fernandez.
“IIFA is a pioneering initiative that opens new doors and creates myriad opportunities for the film industry, taking it to new shores each year. I experienced the IIFA celebrations at The Venetian Macao in 2009 and it was a spectacular 3-day celebration of Indian cinema. We trust that IIFA will plan their celebrations this year befitting the 100 years of our industry,” said Bachchan, the son of Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan who is at Cannes for the premiere of The Great Gatsby in which he makes an appearance.
“IIFA has taken Indian cinema on an unparalleled journey over the last 13 years and it’s a proud moment to see the movement continuing to make impactful strides,” added Fernandez, a former Miss Sri Lanka Universe who recently starred in hit action film Race 2.
“We are extremely pleased that the Venetian Macao is once again the official host destination partner for the awards ceremony this July. We are also honoured that the Macau Government Tourist Office is once again supporting the awards ceremony at The Venetian,” said Venetian Macau Ltd VP of sales and resort marketing, Brendon Elliott.
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“The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel is the perfect choice for this year’s celebrations. The enormous integrated resort is a like a city in itself and we had an unforgettable experience in 2009 when we celebrated 10 glorious years of the IIFA movement. We are glad to be back and we are positive that this year will be more spectacular as we celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema,” said Wizcraft and IIFA director Sabbas Joseph.
In addition to promoting Indian cinema overseas, the IIFAs also showcase tourism for the host country. Macau sees more than 100,000 visitors from India each year, with more than 150,000 visiting in 2012 alone.
Since the first IIFAs were held at the Millennium Dome in London in 2000 the event has traveled across the world to countries such as South Africa, Malaysia, Dubai, The Netherlands, Thailand, Sri Lanka with last year’s event held in Singapore.
Presented by leading consumer electronics group Videocon for the fifth year, the IIFAs will air on News Corp.-owned Star India network.
India’s busy awards calendar recently saw another addition, the Times of India Awards (TOIFA) which were launched in Vancouver, British Columbia, in April. Promoted by leading newspaper The Times of India (owned by media conglomerate Bennett Coleman and Co.), TOIFA will also be held outside India every year.
