MUMBAI: : Whistling Woods International Institute for Film Television, Animation and Media Arts, in association with Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI), presented the first ‘Open Forum‘ in what is to be a week-long series of panel discussions at the Mumbai Film Festival 2009 today.
Speaking on the art of writing for film in the new age of cinema were lyricist and screenwriter Prasoon Joshi, London-based film historian and filmmaker Sangeeta Datta, screenwriter Atul Tiwari, lyricist and screenwriter Victor Acharya, writer and director Vinay Shukla and Reliance Big Entertainment Chairman Amit Khanna.
The discussions ranged from the comparison of screenwriting and literature, the need for script analysts and better story-pitching platforms and the positive new trend of strong scripts boosting smaller films like Welcome to Sajjanpur, A Wednesday and Aamir.
The forum was well-attended by festival delegates who had a chance to pose questions to the panelists in the second half of the session.
Panelists of the forum include Ashutosh Gowariker, Rajen Kothari, Abhishek Kapoor, James Mimikos, Sarah McKenzie, Aruna Vasudev, Irene Bignardi, Shyam Benegal, Shekhar Kapur and Uma DaCunha.
Whistling Woods International & Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image conceived Open Forum as a platform that brings forth stimulating discussion on a variety of topics amongst professional panelists drawn from every aspect of filmmaking.
Panel discussion topics for the coming days include The Importance of Craft in Cinema, Film Production for World Markets, Emerging Asia, New Perspectives & Challenges in Media Education, and Indian Cinema Today.
