The Jio MAMI 19th Mumbai Film Festival with Star is organized by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), a non-profit trust that aims to foster a culture of good cinema in the country by bringing the best of films and talent the world has to offer. The Festival announced its lineup, brimming over with 220 films, from 49 countries, filmed in 51 languages, at its annual press conference held recently at JW Marriott, Juhu, Mumbai. Like every year, Jio MAMI with Star will bring an exemplary slate of feature films from India and from the International film festival circuit to India, along with, Masterclass and Conversations with standout film talent that will offer tremendous value to the audience and participants.
The Festival runs from 12th – 18th October 2017 across 7 prominent venues in Mumbai. The curtain opens on the festival on the 12th of October with Anurag Kashyap’s film Mukkabaaz (The Brawler), at the iconic Liberty Cinema.
The line-up was announced by members of the MAMI board Anurag Kashyap, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Ajay Bijli, Kaustubh Dhavse, Rohan Sippy and the core team of the Academy Co-chairperson Kiran Rao, Festival Director Anupama Chopra, and Creative Director Smriti Kiran.
Talking about the festival, Ms. Kiran Rao, Festival Co-chairperson, said, “This year our attempt has
been to go deeper, to strengthen and consolidate our programming that we have created over the last
two years rather than spread ourselves horizontally. Our endeavor is to change and shape the cinema
around us, in the city and to do that we have to engage more deeply in order to that we have started an
year-round programme which really has been a great success, we have had 24 events since the year
began and all of them have been well attended. The masterclass, workshops, in-depth conversations with filmmakers have added a great deal to peoples’ engagement with cinema through the year and also it helped the academy become not just once a year presence but a continuing sustained conversation with our audiences.”
As usual, the festival will host filmmakers from around the world. One of the aims of the festival is to get
as many voices out there from diverse cinema cultures as possible and therefore countries that have had a rare presence at MAMI like Uganda, Kyrgyzstan, Slovenia, Senegal, and Iceland have films playing at the festival this year. Jio MAMI 19th Mumbai Film Festival with Star received over 850 entries
for the movies. The Programmers, curators, selection committee members picked a diverse slate of films.
Commenting on the Jio MAMI with Star, Festival Director, Ms. Anupama Chopra said, “It’s been an honour to be a part of this Festival. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful partners for their unparalleled support without which we wouldn’t have been able to put up such an amazing line-up all through the year. I strongly believe that good films make us into better people and I’m confident that the Festival will bridge gaps between cultures and communities world over.”
The academy went year round this year and has been bringing latest cutting-edge Indian and International cinema to the city every week as a run-up to Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star that
will flood the city with a plethora of remarkable movies and talent. The India Gold category that screens
the best of Indian films in Indian languages like Konkani, Nepali, Chokri. The International Competition
will bring 12 debut feature films from Colombia, Georgia, Spain, South Africa, Iceland, Turkey, France
and the UK.
Adding more to it, Creative Director, Smriti Kiran said, "The idea behind the academy and the festival is to create value and not just tick boxes. To fill chasms and build bridges where currently there are none. We want to revive the culture of conversation by offering the audience the opportunity to engage with an array of filmmakers while highlighting different aspects of filmmaking. This year, we have deepened the engagement and strengthened our verticals through the Year Round Programme. I’m really excited and I am convinced that it’s going to be really fun and accessible to every movie-lover and I urge each and everyone to visit the festival and immerse themselves in the movie-mania."
In its 19th edition, the festival will not only showcase Indian films but it promises to delve into the realms of providing the best in world cinema.
For more info about the festival, click here.
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