MUMBAI: The 11th Mumbai Film Festival (MFF), organised by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), is scheduled to take place from 29 October to 5 November in Mumbai.
A Reliance Big Entertainment initiative, MMF has the distinction of being the only international film festival in India to be organised by an independent body of practicing film professionals.
A five-member international jury will include celebrated Hollywood scriptwriter, director and Martin Scorsese‘s long term collaborator Paul Schrader, scriptwriter of Taxi Driver and co-writer of Raging Bull amongst others, and eminent Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, a Golden Lion awardee at the Venice Film Festival and the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.
This year MFF will honour two talented filmmakers from India and abroad. Shashi Kapoor will receive the Indian lifetime achievement award at the inaugural function of the Festival on 29 October while Greek filmmaker Angelopoulos will be presented the international lifetime achievement award in the closing ceremony of the Festival on 5 November.
A retrospective of Angelopoulos‘ films will be organised to salute the maestro. Considered one of the greatest living directors, Angelopoulos has won awards at all major International film festivals.
Divided into five sections (International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors, World Cinema, Indian Showcase, Dimensions Mumbai and Retrospectives), the Festival offers something to every film buff.
"The festival will showcase the best in contemporary Indian cinema even while it takes a look back at cinema down the ages," notes renowned film-maker Shyam Benegal, the chair-person of MAMI.
"We also want to encourage young film talent and have a forum for that. Further, our audience will be treated to the works of Shashi Kapoor and Angeloupolous, two film-makers to be honoured with life-time achievement awards. Both have traversed a long path and made a distinctive niche for themselves in world cinema," he adds.
The 11th MFF will also organise a exhibition to commemorate and celebrate 60 years of Dev Anand‘s Navketan Films. A retrospective from Navketan will be screened to mark the occasion.
Fun Republic, the four-screen multiplex, will be the central venue of the 11th MFF while films taking part in the festival will also be screened at Metro BIG Cinema and other theatres.
