Mumbai film fest to feature fresh cinematic talent

MUMBAI: Get a dose of international cinema at the Mumbai Film Festival, which will be held from October 29 to November 5.
The festival will screen 200 movies from 56 countries. One of the main elements of MFF is a competition for feature films by debutant directors from across the world. They include Danish director Martin Pieter Zandvliet, whose Applause follows actress Thea Barfoed as she recovers from a divorce, Argentinean Adrian Biniez, whose Gigante is about a security guard whose boring job gets interesting when he falls for a janitor and Singaporean Tzu Nyen whose Here hinges on a man���s experiences in a mental institution.
The director of the best feature film will win a cash award of Rs 50 lakh while the Jury Grand Prize winner will get Rs 25 lakh, courtesy a corporate sponsor.The jury includes American screenplay writer Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, Raging Bull) and Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi (The White Balloon, The Circle).
Shyam Benegal, chairperson of the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), which organises the festival, said it was important to prop up young film-makers by showing their films and rewarding them generously so that they could fund subsequent projects. ���Often their first films are good but they may not do well in the market,������ he said. ���We don���t want them to hang about before making their second film.������
MFF is encouraging young filmwallahs in two other ways. Dimensions Mumbai is a section that showcases shorts that are less than five minutes in length by film-makers under the age of 25. In the manner of festivals abroad, MFF will invite young film critics to watch films and publish their critiques in a daily bulletin.
There���s also a section on documentary films, an out-of-competition section and two lifetime achievement awards. This year, Shashi Kapoor and Greek director Theo Angelopoulos will be feted. There will be a retrospective of films by Angelopoulos, the director of such works as The Travelling Players and The Hunters.
Angelopoulos is not well known in India. However cineastes might be familiar with The Travelling Players. One of his most famous works, it sweeps through a tumultuous period in Greek history that begins a few years before World War II and encompasses a decade and a half of civil war and dictatorship. The story is told through a company of actors who travel around the countryside performing a single play. ���It was done in a very personal way with a bunch of theatre people who go from town to town,������ Benegal said. ���He���s an epic film-maker.������
To register, visit
www.mumbaifilmfest.com