Week-long Documentary film festival to flag off this weekend

MUMBAI: The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films or MIFF as it is known popularly, will be inaugurated on 28 January at the

NCPA

Mumbai.

"The week long festival will showcase nearly 430 documentaries, short and animation films from over 40 countries," said a press statement issued by Press Information Bureau. The oldest and the largest film festival for non-feature films in

South Asia

, which began in 1990 is being organized by the Films Division,

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

.

"The response to the 15th edition of MIFF has been overwhelming, signifying a vibrant documentary culture in India and the world. The festival directorate received a record 790 entries, with 194 entries from 32 countries in the International competition and 596 entries in the National competition," it added.

Selection of films for National and International Competition was made by independent Selection Committees. In view of large number of entries for the national competition, a two-tier selection process was followed. The Chairpersons of the Regional Selection Committees (Mumbai I&II, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore) met in Mumbai and evaluated the short listed films before recommending 43 films for the National Competition. International Selection Committee met in Mumbai and evaluated the films before recommending 25 films for the MIFF 2018 International Competition.

Cash price for best documentary film doubled

Giving a major boost to the documentary movement, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has approved doubling of prize money for the Golden Conch Award winning Best Documentary Film in the International Competition to Rs 1 million (Rs 10 lakhs) from the earlier Rs 500,000 (Rs 5 lakhs).

Golden Conch, Silver Conch and trophies with handsome cash awards are part of the competition in categories like Best Documentary, Best Short Fiction and Best Animation film. Besides, technical awards will be given for Best Cinematography, Editing and Sound Design. Other highlights are the Pramod Pati Special Jury award, Best Student Film and Best Debut film award all of which carry trophy and cash awards. Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA) and the Government of Maharashtra, through

Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari

join hands with Films Division in instituting awards.