The current tender provider is Mind Blowing Films, run by Mitu Bhowmick Lange who is the Festival Director of IFFM.
It was result of the Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division)’s policy "to strengthen Victoria's ties with the Indian film industries".
The film festival has always always been about diversity," stating that some of the South Indian actors invited had not been able to attend due to busy schedules.
The first edition of the festival was held in 2010 and featured the work of actress Rani Mukerji such as Bunty Aur Babli, Black, Hum Tum, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, Paheli, and Saathiya.
The festival showcased several other Hindi films such as 3 Idiots, Dev.D, Dil Bole Hadippa, Dostana, Ghajini, Kaminey, Love Aaj Kal, Luck by Chance, New York, Paa, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, and Wake Up Sid.
The festival went on for 20 days on 5 screens in Melbourne and opened with India's first silent film ‘Raja Harish Chandra’ accompanied by a live band playing the background score along with the colored ‘Mughal-E-Azam’.
[26] Other guests included Rajkumar Hirani, Simi Garewal, Imran Khan, Shonali Bose, Nagesh Kukunoor and Elahé Hiptoola.
The festival also included panel discussions about women in cinema and had guests Sue Maslin, Leena Yadav and Richa Chadha, who gave a master class on Bollywood and body positivity Westpac Excellence In Cinema Award: Rishi Kapoor Telstra Best Film: Kapoor & Sons Westpac Best Indie Film Award: Parched Westpac Best Director Award: Leena Yadav Best Actor: Nawazuddin Siddiqi for Raman Ragav 2.0 Best Actress: Sonam Kapoor for Neerja Western Union Short Film Festival Best Film Award: Josh Walker for Out on a Lim.
[29] The Westpac IFFM Excellence in Global Cinema Award: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Best Indie Film: Lipstick Under My Burkha Best Director: Nitesh Tiwari for Dangal Equality in Cinema Award: Director/Actor Rahul Bose for Poorna Best Actress : Konkona Sen Sharma for Lipstick Under my Burkha Best Actor : Sushant Singh Rajput for Dhoni Best Actor (Special Mention) : Raj Kumar Rao for Trapped, Best Film : Pin People's Choice Award : Dangal & Bahubali 2, Leadership in cinema: Karan Johar[30] IFFM 2019 was organized at Palais Theatre.
Guests included Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Tabu, Sriram Raghavan, Malaika Arora and Arjun Kapoor.