The Fourth Atlanta Indo-American Film Festival is reaching out to three new universities this year featuring traditional Indian film classics, innovative documentaries and more experimental works.

Ani Agnihotri, founder of the U.S.-India Business Research Center in Atlanta, told GlobalAtlanta that he has been adding Georgia universities as venues to show Indian films since launching the festival in 2006.

Georgia College and State University, Mercer University and the University of West Georgia will participate in the festival’s outreach to the campuses Sept. 18-Oct. 31.

Georgia State University, Emory University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Clayton State University and Kennesaw State University already have been hosting the festival.

First part of the festival itself is to take place at the High Museum of Art from Aug. 21-Sept. 13 and is to feature films from India’s National Film Development Corp. Ltd., a government agency that promotes the industry’s development.

Mr. Agnihotri, who lives in Atlanta but often visits Mumbai, India, the seat of India’s film industry, has been promoting Indian films in Georgia for the past seven years.

Last year he organized a visit to Atlanta and elsewhere in Georgia for Indu Shahani, Mumbai’s sheriff, a political post placing her second in authority in the city.

Dr. Shahani was accompanied by representatives of several Mumbai-based universities that have since collaborated with the University of Georgia and other institutions in Georgia.

The recent collaboration between the Indian conglomerate Reliance ADA Group and director and producer Stephen Spielberg’s Dreamworks SKG should further joint projects between the U.S. and Indian film industries.

“It will take a while, maybe three years for Georgia to feel the effects,” Mr. Agnihotri told GlobalAtlanta, but he is convinced that Georgia will eventually benefit from collaborations between Hollywood, Calif., and Mumbai’s Bollywood.

Mr. Agnihotri may be reached by email at Ani.Agnihotri@gmail.com or by calling (404) 394-6678.