It is no secret that South Indian films, Tamil movies in particular, are gaining wider acceptance in several international film festivals. Bollywood may be the face of Indian cinema, but it is Kollywood that is making waves on foreign shores.

Consequently, it was only natural for a person of Hannah Fisher’s stature (Journalist and Author) to spend two valuable days in the home of Tamil cinema, Chennai, to meet people for a special feature — SAFF Memories Project — which will be part of the inaugural South Asian Film Festival (SAFF Canada) to be held in Vancouver, Surrey and Abbotsford from October 31 to November 3, 2012.

Hannah, who has contributed to major international festivals, including the Dubai International Film Festival, the Off Plus Camera Festival of Independent Cinema, Krakow, Poland, and the Kolkata International Film Festival, is the former director of the Vancouver International Film Festival. She utilises her years of experience, relationships, contacts and passion for South Asia, for the development of SAFF Canada.

As part of the festival, the SAFF Memories Project, a special showcasing of the history of cinema from the South Asian countries, is being put together by Hannah. To gather material, including bytes from industry professionals, she visited Mumbai and Chennai recently.

"Actually, it was only Bollywood which was in the scheme of things. But, Rekhs, whom I had met during a Shanghai Film Festival, insisted I look at Tamil cinema which was making waves at several festivals abroad. Thanks to her, I came to Chennai to meet industry stalwarts", says Hannah.

"Thanks to the English subtitling, Tamil films have gained more viewers at several international festivals. Many of our stars and directors have a big fan following abroad," said Ramkumar Ganesan, Producer, Sivaji films. 

Therefore, it is only just, that Tamil cinema finds a place in the SAFF Memories Project that Hannah is putting together. 

Hannah spent close to two days in Chennai to record bytes from directors S. P. Muthuraman, Vijay, Krishnan Seshadri Gomatam, Jayendra Panchapakesan, Producers AVM Saravanan, L. Suresh, G. Ramkumar, art director Thota Tharrani, actor-director Suhasini Mani Ratnam and editor Anthony.