MUMBAI: The fifteenth edition of the Mumbai Film Festival kicked off yesterday with Sonakshi Sinha and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan being the chief guests.

The Mumbai Film Festival honoured acclaimed director Costa Gavras as well as Indian actor and director Kamal Haasan, as both of them received Lifetime Achievement Awards.

Costa Gavras said, “It is wonderful to see Indian cinema has a large local audience watching their films. I wish the festival best of luck.” The Mumbai Film Festival includes a retrospective of the films of Costa Gavras as well as of Kamal Haasan.

Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (‘A Separation’), who is on the jury of the Indian Gold competition, and French director Leos Carax (‘Holy Motors’), who will be conducting a master class, were also present at the festival opening.

The opening ceremony of the Mumbai Film Festival took place at Liberty theater in Dhobi Talao and was followed by the screening of the opening film ‘Lee Daniels’ The Butler’ starring Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey among others.