ORANGE COUNTY, CA: It will be a star-studded extravaganza when the who's who in cinema from the Sikh community will unite at the Spinning Wheel Film Festival on November 16 & 17 in Beverly Hills, Southern California.

To be held for the fifth time, this festival is a quintessential showcase of outstanding Sikh cinema that ranges from documentaries and independent films to foreign and narrative films. This much-awaited event is an ideal platform for filmmakers from across the globe who come together to screen their films and discuss their work with both Sikh and non-Sikh movie buffs.

Supported by the Sikh Center of Orange County, the festival focuses on the cinematic examination of Sikh life and culture. The short-listed cluster of movies to be screened encompasses a comprehensive outlook to universal themes of human rights, global peace, religious freedom and tolerance.

The festival will also include a Q&A session with producers and directors. Special guest for the evening will include renowned Story Teller from UK, Roop Singh, of 'My Yorkshire' fame. Another special guest will be Kavi Raz, the famous India-born British actor, writer, director and producer. Actress Namrata Kaur Gujral, who has had the privilege to play lead roles in both Bollywood and Hollywood, will also grace the event with her presence.

With other eminent personalities like Angad Singh Bhatia, 13 year old film maker from Atlanta, Amrit and Rabindra Singh (Singh Twins) from UK, Reema Anand from India, Rup Singh from Canada, Sandeep Singh, Valarie Kaur, Waris Ahluwalia, Jayshree Hart and Michael Singh from USA, the list is endless.

This ideal congregation of filmmakers, film students, filmgoers and critics is bound to create an overall positive feeling towards Sikh films and encourage artists to create works that imbibe the Sikh values. It will also inspire the new generation of Sikhs to pursue careers in the arts. Overall, the festival is sure to be an endless ride of creative emancipation as masterpieces in Sikh cinema are screened one after the other.

The Spinning Wheel Film Festival, based in Orange County, California, celebrates the stories of Sikhs worldwide, and brings diverse interpretations of their culture, identity and history to the screen. The Festival is a showcase of outstanding Sikh films, featuring a diverse mix of genres including documentary, independent, foreign and narrative films.

The Festival brings together filmmakers from across the globe to screen their films and discuss their work with both Sikh and non-Sikh film-goers. SWFF has quickly grown in both size and reputation, and is now well-established as the pre-eminent Sikh film event in the world. The Sikh Heritage Evening and Spinning Wheel Gala are on November 16 in Orange County and the film festival is in Beverly Hills at Writer Guild Theatre from 9:30 am to 11 pm.