Cultural exchange was an important part of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s agenda during his visit to the city. On Wednesday, he met a delegation of filmmakers at Yash Raj Films Studio in Andheri. The idea was to encourage and improve cultural relations with Bollywood.

Bollywood finds mention in WikiLeaks in a confidential cable sent by U.S. diplomats in India suggesting that the appeal of Bollywood stars in Afghanistan could aid international efforts to stabilize the country. Media reports here over the weekend have quoted the March 2007 cable that was a response to a request from Washington for "specific, concrete ideas for opportunities for India to use soft power in helping Afghanistan's reconstruction."

It is hard to avoid Nigerian films in Africa. Public buses show them, as do many restaurants and hotels. Nollywood, as the business is known, churns out about 50 full-length features a week, making it the world’s second most prolific film industry after India’s Bollywood.

Films commissioned more than 50 years ago by the British Council to showcase the best of Britain to the rest of the world – whether that was a sense of fair play, cricket or the joys of congregated drinking in places "called 'public' houses" – have been digitised and are being released online for the first time.

The understanding between artists and individuals – on a people-to-people level, is one of the cornerstones of free societies. During the cold war, artists and cultural exchanges helped win what some scholars call the “war of ideas” by demonstrating to the world the promise of America.

For the first time in history, the EU Film Festival will be held at the Centre for Performing Arts Theatre Complex Hall in Jaffna from December 1 to 5 at 1 pm and 3 pm, bringing new hope for peace and harmony through cultural ties.

Ten Myanmar amateur directors will compete in Japan-Mekong film competition to be held in Ibusuki and Kagosheema in Japan in the first week of December under the cultural exchange program of Myanmar and Japan, a local weekly reported Friday.

The first Experimental Media Art Festival in Taiwan (EXIT) will open in Taipei on Thursday featuring a wide range of avant-garde films from Asia and Canada that are rarely exhibited in museum galleries or screened in local film festivals.