MAMI Mumbai Film Festival concluded its highly successful 2024 edition

Mumbai:24/10/24; Mumbai is the city of dreams where every dream gets its destination and every work gets encouraged the Mumbai Film Festival is one of them that celebrates the magic of movies from critically acclaimed independent films to world premieres, the MFF offers a platform for diverse voices, cultures, and genres, making it a must-visit for cinephiles. The festival isn’t just about watching films; it’s about living them. With panel discussions, masterclasses by industry legends, red carpet moments, and the electric energy of a city that breathes cinema, each edition is a journey into the heart of storytelling starting from onwards 19th October available at Juhu PVR and Regal Cinema

.More About MAMI (Mumbai Film Festival) 

The MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image brought the best of contemporary world cinema and talent to the city of Mumbai since 1997, expanded its vision to spotlight South Asian and South Asian diaspora filmmakers, MAMI becomes the hub for the world to discover emerging South Asian talent and contemporary cinema. Along with celebrating cinematic excellence and bringing joy to our audiences, we aim to facilitate the exchange of ideas and provide easy access to information related to filmmaking, funding, film distribution, business opportunities, and strategic marketing support for films and filmmakers, the festival also conducts a robust Year Round Programme acts as a hub for creators and cinephiles through screenings, networking opportunities, access to labs and workshops for skill development, masterclasses, and, very importantly, creating a community of cinema lovers.

Festival Opening Ceremony

Interim Festival Director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur and Artistic Director Deepti DCunha declared the festival open, marking the beginning of a spectacular showcase of cinematic excellence. The ceremony was attended by esteemed members of the film fraternity, festival partners, and dignitaries. MAMI honoured the incomparable Shabana Azmi with the Excellence in Cinema Award, recognizing her remarkable contribution to Indian cinema. A special screening of her iconic film Arth; will be held at the festival on 20th October, celebrating her enduring legacy.

Red-Carpet Appearances

Prominent figures from the entertainment industry who graced the red carpet included Shabana Azmi, Waheeda Rehman, Payal Kapadia, Rana Daggubati, Siddharth Roy Kapoor, Vikramaditya Motwane, Mini Mathur, Kabir Khan, Ramesh Sippy, Rohan Sippy, Hansal Mehta, Pratik Gandhi, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Abhishek Chaubey, Amole Gupte, Ira Dubey, Shuchi Talati, Swanand Kirkire, Jim Sarbh amongst others.

Opening Film 

All We Imagine as Light- Payal Kapadia’s debut fiction feature, All We Imagine as Light, is a luminous portrayal of three women in the teeming megapolis of Mumbai, struggling as much for survival as for lost love and ever-elusive intimacies. They reconnect with themselves and each other, learn to revel in their desires, seize life’s fleeting moments, and find liberation and hope in a quiet retreat by the sea in Ratnagiri.

The MAMI Mumbai Film Festival concluded its highly successful 2024 edition with a closing ceremony held at PVR INOX, Juhu, Mumbai. This year’s festival showcased an impressive lineup of over 110 films from 45+ countries in 50+ languages, solidifying its reputation as one of the most influential film festivals in South Asia. Spanning two venues, PVR INOX, and Regal Cinema, the festival featured 20 world premieres, 25+ Asia premieres, and 35+ South Asia premieres, bringing a wide spectrum of cinematic storytelling to the forefront.

The festival’s prestigious awards were presented during the closing ceremony, honouring remarkable talent across various competition categories. The South Asia Competition jury, led by Rada Šešić, along with members Clarence Tsui, Kate Laurie, Jérôme Baron, and Marie Fuglestein Lægreid, awarded the Golden Gateway Award to Rhythm of a Flower (Phool Ka Chand) by Amit Dutta and Silver Gateway Award to Nocturnes by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan. The Special Jury Prize was presented to The Fable by Raam Reddy followed by a Special Mention to Girls Will Be Girls by Shuchi Talati.
The NETPAC Jury, consisting of Dr. Ida Yoshinaga, Dr. Tsengel Davaasambuu, and Upali Gamlath, presented the NETPAC Special Mention to Shambala by Min Bahadur Bham and Agent of Happiness by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó. The NETPAC Award was presented to Girls Will Be Girls by Shuchi Talati.
The Dimensions Mumbai jury included Amit Masurkar, Chaitanya Tamhane, and Paromita Vohra, who presented the Gold Award to BMCLD by Shreela Agarwal and Silver Award to A Tale of Two Cities by Sameeha Sabnis and I Was Painted Red by Bhagyesh Rajeshirke was given.
The Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films Jury, featuring Aditi Rao Hydari, Hansal Mehta, and Rajshri Deshpande, recognised Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films, Best Film to Ade (On A Sunday) by Theja Rio and Special Jury Prize to Coming Back to Life (Et Moi, Je Revis) by Mantra Watsa for their excellence in short filmmaking.
The Film Critics Guild Gender Sensitivity Award, presented by Monika Rawal, Rohit Khilnani, and Sanyukta Thakare, honoured Girls Will Be Girls by Shuchi Talati for challenging traditional gender stereotypes and advancing nuanced narratives.
In addition to these awards, the festival also celebrated contributions to the cinema with the Best Book on Cinema Award for The Age of Heroes: The Incredible World of Telugu Cinema by Mukesh Manjunath, for Rashid Irani’s Best Young Critic winner was Sarth Patel and the runners-up were Saanvi Tara Dwivedi and Rushnan Jaleel. Additionally, Girls Will Be Girls by Shuchi Talati was awarded with Rashid Irani Young Critics Choice Award. The prestigious Excellence in Cinema Award was presented to Shabana Azmi for her outstanding contribution to the world of film.
The closing ceremony was followed by the screening of Sean Baker’s Anora which had its South Asia Premiere. One of the most anticipated films at the festival, it is based on a story of Ani (Mikey Madison), a Brooklyn sex worker who gets mixed up with the Russian mafia.

While receiving the award for her co-production, Richa Chaddha shared, “This award means a lot. We were hoping for a good audience in our country. This will always be an Indian film even if it’s an international co-production. Kudos to MAMI Film Festival for pulling it off. It’s always the freedom of expression and that is what matters.”
Adding to her Shuchi Talati shared, “I am just overwhelmed, honored. But I feel sometimes filmmakers make a distinction between art-house, independent cinema, and commercial cinema as if this particular genre will only have a small section of audience. But I feel what we are taking away from the awards, we are taking away from the screenings where the audience gave so much love to our film.”
Ali Fazal shared, “I have been watching the entire process of filmmaking on the sidelines. Richa and I are co-producers with multiple others. It’s been the most humbling and huge learning process as actors to watch Shuchi at play and all the actors.”