MUMBAI: The recently concluded Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) registered more than 3,500 delegates during its 11th edition.
The number has increased by a considerable 70 per cent compared to the delegate registration last year. With the best 200 films from all over the world screening at this year‘s MFF, the response was overwhelming from delegates, guests and press alike.
Invited guests also increased this year with the festival hosting close to 100 visitors - 50 international guests (international film directors, actors, buyers, international film festival directors etc) and 40 Indian guests (Indian film directors, actors, buyers etc) that is three times the number of visitors the festival hosted last year.
Said Mumbai Film Festival Director Srinivasan Narayanan, "The robust movie line-up, ardent support from all our trustees and the cinema lovers of Mumbai have made this festival a huge success. We are extremely pleased with the overwhelming response that the 11th Mumbai Film Festival has garnered. We have successfully raised the bar and set a benchmark."
The Film Business Centre, in its very first year of inception, saw an overwhelming response as it facilitated business opportunities between interested parties. The India DVD rights of the most talked about international film- Antichrist was clinched by Enlighten Film Company and discussions for licensing Indian films to Greece took place in the business centre. Some visiting directors discussed production and co-production possibilities with Indian counterparts.
The UK Film Council unveiled their distribution plan for independent British films in India. Government of Meghalaya and Tourism Department of Meghalaya invited Indian and foreign filmmakers to shoot their films in the virgin locales of their State.
Lastly, the brand new initiative Mumbai Young Critics and youth-centric Dimensions Mumbai were runaway hits. The student jury interacted with the visiting filmmakers and personalities, watched the films and finally conferred the Mumbai Young Critics award on the Iranian film Whisper With The Wind.
