Edited sentence: Ayngaran International and BIG Cinemas have emerged as the top distributors for Tamil films in the Western markets.Dasavathaaram, was distributed by Walt Disney Pictures in Canada.In Kerala and Karnataka the films are directly released in Tamil but in Andhra Pradesh they are generally dubbed into Telugu.It is estimated by the Manorama Yearbook 2000 (a popular almanac) that over 5,000 Tamil films were produced in the 20th century.Kanchivaram (2009) was selected to be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.Many Tamil-language films have premiered or have been selected as special presentations at various film festivals across the globe, such as Mani Ratnam's Kannathil Muthamittal, Vasanthabalan's Veyyil and Ameer Sultan'sParuthiveeran.Many successful Tamil films have been remade by the Hindi and Telugu film industries.Tamil films constitute India's most popular films along with Hindi films.Tamil films enjoy significant patronage in neighbouring Indian states like Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,Maharastra, Gujarat and New Delhi.Tamil films have also been dubbed into other languages, thus reaching a much wider audience.Tamil films have been a part of films submitted by India for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language on eight occasions, next only to Hindi.The Chennai film industry produced the first nationally distributed film across India in 1948 with Chandralekha.They are distributed to various parts of Asia, Africa, Western Europe, North America and Australia.They have one of the widest overseas distribution, with large audience turnout from the Tamil diaspora alongside Hindi films.Within India, companies such as Aascar Films, Pyramid Saimira, AGS Entertainment handle distribution