IIFA
AWARDS 2005 PRESS CONFERENCE (AMSTERDAM)
Radio
Sargam Report: A
few weeks ago, the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) announced
the date for this years IIFA Awards. The sixth annual award ceremony
will be held in Amsterdam on the 9th, 10th and 11th of June at various
locations in Amsterdam.
The press
conference took place at The Grand Hotel in Amsterdam, to tell the national
and international media more about the soon to be held IIFA Weekend.
The organization
has called the worlds biggest venue ‘The I AMsterdam IIFA Weekend
2005’. ‘I AMsterdam’ is a promotion campaign to promote
the city Amsterdam.
The
awards will take place in The Netherlands’ biggest stadium, the
Amsterdam Arena. The celebrities who are coming to The Netherlands include
film stars from all over the world, but especially ofcourse the Indian
stars. There will also be sport stars, political leaders and high business
people.
Before
the conference started everyone got a press documentation map with a
lot stuff about the awards and the sponsors. While waiting for the press
conference to start, Amitabh Bachchan was outside to take a bike ride.
He said smiling: “I am thankful to the Amsterdam police for not
giving me a ticket while I was riding, because I think I was riding
on the wrong side of the road”.
The press
conference itself was very good. It began with some words from one of
the organizers followed by spokesmen from the most important sponsors.
They also showed some short movies about the history of IIFA and from
the sponsors. Then the major of Amsterdam, Job Cohen, said a few words.
But ofcourse, everyone was waiting for Mr. Bachchan himself. He was
very kind and hilarious. He spoke about why he chose to be ambassador
of IIFA, about IIFA itself and what we can except in June.
After
his speech the press was allowed to ask some questions.
One of the various questions was what the main goal for The Netherlands,
and especially Amsterdam in this event is. Job Cohen answered that they
want to introduce Indian cinema more in The Netherlands with this event
as there is no good distribution network of Indian films in this country.
This event has proved that the tourism from and to India will increase
very much and it will be a big boost for the economy of The Netherlands.
When someone
asked The Big B what the difference between the IIFA Awards and the
several other award ceremonies was, he said with a big laugh: “They
don’t have Amitabh Bachchan as their ambassador!”. Then he
said that the IIFA organizes a whole weekend with events besides the
Award show.
DIARY
OF EVENTS FOR THIS YEAR'S IIFA:
Day
1, June the 9th
The
IIFA Weekend will start with the ‘Flight Of Fame’ at Amsterdam’s
Schiphol Airport. A lot of stars will be warmly welcomed on Schiphol
Airport. They will place their autographs on a placed wall at the Airport.
In the afternoon, there will be another press conference in The Grand
Hotel in Amsterdam. Some stars will be attending this conference.
Also
the ‘FICCI – IIFA Global Business Forum’ will he held
on this day at the EXPO XXI. This Business Forum will bring together
business leaders, policy makers and dignitaries from India, The Netherlands
and the rest of the world. It’s going to be a place for big ideas,
international business and networking.
At night we will see the big premiere of the film DUS in cinema Tuschinski.
The whole star cast will attend the premiere. The evening will begin
with the ‘Red carpet & Cocktails’, followed by the premiere
of the film and an after party.
On
the third day the IIFA Awards 2005 will take place at the Amsterdam
Arena. We’ll begin this final day with the ‘IIFA AWARDS Red
Carpet’, seeing the stars arriving at the Amsterdam Arena. After
this there will be ‘Pre-Event Cocktails’. The IIFA Awards
Show will start at 8:30 PM!
The
ticket sales will start very soon. The date and the prices will be announced
very soon. The prices will start from 75 or 85 Euros.
The tickets for the cricket match will probably start at April 19th.
On
the whole, the press conference gave an excellent image of the IIFA
and the sponsors. Also about what we can expect in June. Everybody is
looking forward to this mega-event!
