The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA), a reputed South Asian film academy, has announced plans to host this year's IIFA Weekend at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in June.

Over the last 15 years, IIFA has travelled to some phenomenal destinations across the globe including the US, UK, Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Canada.

IIFA will now return to the culturally diverse country of Malaysia after 13 years where fans and enthusiasts from around the world can expect to see their favorite stars descend into Kuala Lumpur during the weekend and witness Indian Cinema's most celebrated event unfold in their city, said the organsiers.

The 16th IIFA Voting Weekend for the IIFA Awards, opened on Friday (March 13) to the members of the Indian Film fraternity.

Each year over 1,000 industry stalwarts, actors, directors, producers, technicians and composers cast their votes, which decide the nominations for the awards.

Year after year, the IIFA management invites the Academy members and the Film Industry to cast their votes and shortlist nominations in the category of the Popular Awards. The Voting Weekend also derives the Technical Award winners.

The 13th, 14th and 15th of March marks the 16th year of IIFA’s Voting Weekend, where Bollywood actors Anil Kapoor and Dia Mirza were the first who came to show their support, casting their vote towards the 16th IIFA Weekend among other members of the film fraternity and the IIFA Advisory Board.

Akin to past IIFA Voting Weekends, many prominent members from the fraternity participated this year including Akshara Haasan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ayushmann Khurrana, Tusshar Kapoor, Huma Qureshi, Vivek Oberoi, Armaan Jain and Kriti Sanon.

The year 2015 marks the sixteenth year of the IIFA celebrations, which is being promoted by Wizcraft International Entertainment globally each year. The company travels to a new beau locale taking the film fraternity with it to amalgamate and celebrate the best of both cultures, thereby taking Indian Cinema to a wider audience.

Having cast the first vote, previous IIFA awardee Kapoor said: "I am honored to be given the opportunity to cast the first vote and show my support to the institution that is the IIFA Weekend and Awards. I’ve been a friend of IIFA for many years and I will always continue to support what I believe is the biggest congregation of the film industry and one that awaited by the entire fraternity year on year.”

Commenting on the occasion, Andre Timmins, the director of Wizcraft International Entertainment, said: "We are very happy to announce that IIFA will be travelling to Malaysia this year. We had a great Weekend there 13 years ago when we went to the Genting Highlands and the country has welcomed us back."

"With its rich and diverse culture and the sheer beauty of the city of Kuala Lumpur we’re absolutely certain this year’s IIFA celebration will be a sight to behold," he added.

Commenting on the announcement, Tony Nagamaiah the general manager, Malaysia major Events, said: "It’s great news that IIFA is returning to Malaysia in 2015 after we enjoyed a successful experience with them in Genting Highlands 13 years ago. Malaysia has grown and evolved during this time just like IIFA has as a globally recognised brand and so we are proud and ready to welcome IIFA this time in the world-class city of Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with Malaysia Year of Festival 2015."

"We have a large Indian population and Malaysian community that along with audiences worldwide enjoy the magic of Indian movies. We look forward to working with IIFA to create the biggest spectacular and celebration of Indian cinema and to welcoming the Indian film industry in Kuala Lumpur," he added.-TradeArabia News Service