Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) chairman, Shyam Benegal and trustees Yash Chopra, Amit Khanna, Shabana Azmi, Ashutosh Gowarikar, and MFF director Srinivasan Narayanan were present at the unveiling of the line-up.
Scheduled to be held from 13-20 October with Cinemax Versova as the main hub of the festival and screenings programmed at Metro Big Cinemas and Cinemax Sion, the Festival will showcase the best of global cinema. Moneyball will be the opening film and Dolphin Tale will be the closing film. Among the films that will have their India premieres include Melancholia, The Whistle Blower, The Ides of March and Pina.
In addition to the list of films being screened under the non-competitive sections, a list of films will compete under the three competition sections; International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors, Dimensions Mumbai and Harmony Celebrate Age for a total of USD 200,000 which will be awarded to the winning films as prize money.
A panel of Jury members including Hugh Hudson, Roger Spottiswoode, Jerzy Skolimowski, Na-Hong Jin along with Basu Chatterjee, Kiran Rao, Onir, Nishikant Kamat, Sushasini Mulay, Renuka Shahane, Mukesh Bhatt, Avantika Akerkar, Vikramaditya Motwane will adjudge the winning films under various competition sections. The 13th MFF will pay tribute to Shammi Kapoor, M.F.Hussain and Mani Kaul with a special screening of their works. A film retrospective of Jury President, Hugh Hudson’s works will be screened, including Revolution Revisited and I Dreamed of Africa. Gulzar will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The festival will screen the best of Cannes Critics Week winning films and Debut features that won the National Film Awards, spanning the last 50 years. The festival will host a section 4me RendezVous, in collaboration with Unifrance, Embassy of France in India and Consulate General of France in Mumbai. The section will screen the best of New French Cinema, which include The Snows of Kilimanjaro, The Conquest and Declaration of Wars. Busan International Film Festival Director Lee Yong Kwano will present a selection of the latest Asian Films from Busan.
The Festival continues its endeavor to facilitate business with the Mumbai Film Mart, with sales agents, executives, distributors and buyers confirming their participation. The Festival is strengthening and consolidating its academic activities with an Indo-German Script Development Workshop scheduled from 11-13 October ahead of the festival opening. Speakers at the workshop include Dani Levy, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Thorsten Schulz, Anjum Rajabali and Sooni Taraporevala. For the Young creative minds selected for the Mumbai Young Critics initiative, they will be mentored by foreign film critics. A Master class on film direction by Hudson on film making with special reference to Ad-filmmaking and daily open forums with noted industry speakers have been scheduled around the screenings.
