From the overwhelming response to the groundbreaking feature I Am to the incredible global response to our Western Union Short Film Competition, this year's festival proved not only that Indian cinema is undergoing a thrilling creative renaissance, but that exciting new voices are willing and able to join in. Indeed the inspiration wasn't confined to the silver screen this year as young film-makers accepted praise, and prizes, from established industry heavyweights, Kabir Khan and Raj Kumar Gupta, while I Am's director Onir and West is West producer Leslee Udwin joined them in sharing their expertise at audience Q&A sessions.

This festival has always believed that cinema (like that other Indian obsession, cricket) can bridge the gap between different cultures and this year several magic moments only cemented that belief. Firstly, Aussie audiences may not have known exactly who Pakistani megastar Ali Zafar was, or what he was doing at their cinema, but they were positively buzzing after seeing his post-911 comedy, Tere Bin Laden. Secondly, the range of this year's regional films, from Bengali arthouse to Tamil gangster flick, brought several communities together under one roof, and not only Indian. But surely the festival's proudest achievement this year happened when we descended on Melbourne's Moomba Festival. Led by Dabangg's "Munni" herself, Malaika Arora Khan, over 1235 Aussies danced their way into the Guinness Book Of Records and, in the process, into living rooms across the sub-continent when TV news there celebrated a rare upbeat story from Down Under.

Meanwhile, our other festival guests entranced Australians, with Malaika dancing with her family at Moomba and visiting students at La Trobe University, Vidya Balan charming media and mere mortals with her beauty and eloquence and Ali Zafar proposing to a fan's girlfriend for him, each went above and beyond the call of duty in helping to the share the magic of Indian cinema. And the welcome cultural exchange ran both ways as Adelaide Premier Mike Ryan took to Twitter to mention his dinner date with Onir and Juhi Chawla, and to recommend their film, I Am. A controversial international premiere of the film was greeted with delight by fans and sparked heated discussions after the film screening .

A big big thank you to all our wonderful sponsors : Western Union Lebara, Singapore Airlines, La Trobe University, City of Melbourne and Blue Hotel.

Our wonderful media partners : SBS, UTV World Movies, Triangle Stratos, Indian Link and Friday Moviez

A very special thank you to all our partners : Hoyts, Mercury Cinema, Yashraj, UTV, Reliance, DIFF, Eros and VCP, and our army of volunteers who worked so tirelessly to make this festival so special.

Congratulations to all the lucky winners of the Western Union Short Film Competition : Ridwan, Collin, Rajneel and Varun and the finalists.

And lastly a big big hug to all our wonderful Festival guests for taking the time out to some and support the festival : Juhi Chawla, Vidya Balan, Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora Khan, Ali Zafar, Leslee Udwin, Raj Kumar Gupta, Kabir Khan - and the wonderful Premier Mike Rann of South Australia for taking the time out for the festival and also tweeting about the festival and " I am " and COM Lord Mayor Robert Doyle for his wonderful hospitality."