Shyamhari Chakra
The ongoing global pandemic has forced the hosts of the annual Mumbai Film Festival to cancel the event slated for the year.
The famed festival, launched in 1997, is being hosted by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) with patronage of corporate giant Reliance-Jio and known as Jio-MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.
“It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to postpone the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2020 to next year. We promise that the festival will come back with fullness in spirit and enthusiasm for our beloved city of Mumbai,” Isha Ambani, MAMI’s Board of Trustees stated.
The statement was released following “unanimous decision” of the Trustees.
The festival will, however, release its official selection of Indian films for the year later during this month, MAMI sourced shared.
“The festival is a crucial milestone in the journey of new films from India as well as a platform that discovers and encourages upcoming film talent. With this in mind, the selection committee at the festival have been watching films relentlessly and an official selection of Indian films for this year will be announced shortly”, the sourced added.
Added noted film critic and writer Anupama Chopra, the Festival Director “We will focus on our Year Round Programme’s digital imprint that has already created a stir. Our endeavour will be to support the filmmakers and the film-lovers as much as we can in getting through this dark time.”
The round-the-year programme, initiated since 2016,has given the Academy a year-long imprint and presence as opposed to its presence only for a week in a year, she felt.It hosts weekly screenings, workshops and conversation sessions for film lovers across India.
“Ever since the pandemic forced people to stay indoors, MAMI has adapted to shifting realities and has redesigned its programmes online with a two-pronged aim. First, to serve the community of film lovers that relied on MAMI to bring them the best films from all over the world and the second, to continue to provide filmmakers with a platform to showcase their films.”, the Academy elaborated.
“We stay committed to the independent filmmaking community and our audience. We will continue to nurture the community, serve our audience and expand our footprint by adding more extension to our digital arm and creating value for filmmakers who are already at a loss this year,” said Smriti Kiran Artistic Director of the festival.
Some of the major components of the week-long annual Mumbai Film Festival include “International Competition”Section for the first feature films of directors, “World Cinema” showcasing the best cinema of the year which are selected from important global film festivals, “Above the Cut” featuring debut feature films that could not be accommodated in the International Competition.
The components further have ‘Retrospectives’, “Indian Frame” showcasing the best of Indian regional cinema, “New Faces” for emerging Indian filmmakers and “The Real Reel” that screens award-winning and critically acclaimed documentaries that carry strong opinions on issues concerning society.
