The celebration of contemporary Indian film-making returns to Florence in Tuscany

(TRAVPR.COM) UK - November 14th, 2011 - The 2nd to 8th December sees India’s long cinematic tradition given a stylish modern stage in Florence’s central Piazza Strozzi Odeon theatre. Now in its eleventh year the River to River Festival continues to go from strength to strength.

Always held in Florence, the event aims to help promote low-budget, independently-made Indian films, to European and North American audiences. These films, rather than the ‘masala’ big-budget Bollywood titles, are the festival’s focus.

‘India’ can here be taken as including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan. Themes reflecting specifically eastern, as well as global concerns, illuminate both common ground and differences in outlook, at a time when the influence of Indian directors and writers has appeared in many pictures in the west.

Unusual features like Sita Sings the Blues, Saving Mom and Dad, and Turn Left At The End Of The World have been well-received at River to River, and gone on to widespread critical acclaim and box-office success.

Cinema awards like The Golden Lion, at Venice, and the Locarno festival’s Audience Award have been won by Indian films in recent years, and River to River helps bring the films’ stars, directors and producers to wider notice. Many of them attend the festival, giving an intimate, relevant feel.

Awards are made according to type; one for full-length feature, one for short film, another for a documentary piece. The Audience Award is out of the committee’s hands as all who attend will have a vote.

Cottages to Castles can provide high quality Tuscany vacation rentals for anyone wanting to attend this unique festival.

To find out more about the River To River festival visit http://www.rivertoriver.it/.

About Cottages to Castles
Cottages to Castles is an independent British company, founded over 28 years ago to specialise in providing high quality self-catering holiday villas in Italy. The company is owned and operated by father, son and daughter team Claudio, Jonathan and Daniela Magoni, who between them inspect and handpick every property.

Cottages to Castles operate a team of sales consultants based in the UK with detailed knowledge of every property. In addition, the company employs a number of permanent representatives on the ground in Italy to ensure a smooth and trouble free holiday experience for their customers.

With a large collection of properties in the inland, countryside, lakeside and seaside regions of Italy, Cottages to Castles is one of the leading specialists in Italian villa rentals in the U.K., U.S., Australia and New Zealand.

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