The festival begins from October 27 and goes on till November 5
9 october 2023
Celebrating the rich spirit and language of global cinema, the illustrious line-up of films and recognitions were announced as part of the upcoming Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival, amid media presence at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai. The Free Press Journal team was also present at the do.
Gracing the occasion with their presence, prominent board members including actors Farhan Akhtar and Rana Daggubati, filmmakers Siddharth Roy Kapur, Vikramaditya Motwane, Zoya Akhtar, Rohan Sippy and Ajay Bijli unveiled the well-curated line-up of global and South Asian films alongside the festival board of directors featuring Anupama Chopra, Deepti DCunha and Maitreyee Dasgupta.
Scheduled to be held from October 27th to November 5th, this year's edition promises as many as 40 world premieres, 45 Asia premieres, 70 South Asia premieres and over 1000 submissions for the South Asia programme. Besides that, the festival will also look at recognising and rewarding the best of cinema across leading competition and non-competition categories.
The line-up includes films from acclaimed filmmakers of international repute, featuring the likes of Pedro Almodovar, Bradley Cooper, Anurag Kashyap, Aki Kaurismaki, Alice Rohrwacher, Angela Schanelec, Ken Loach, Wang Bing and Wim Wenders.
One of the standout highlights that festival attendees can look forward to this edition, is the spotlighting of films and documentaries from the South Asian diaspora. This will include regional films from India and international releases from Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. In its effort to empower the representation of more women in cinema, as many as 70 films fronted by women directors from across the globe, are likely to be showcased at the film festival.
Commenting over the wide range of South Asian representation, this edition promises, Deepti, Artistic Director of Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, shares, “We are very proud that we have managed to achieve such a diverse curation in our South Asia section within the first year of us expanding our vision to be a festival that is focused on building an ecosystem for new cinematic voices from South Asia and the South Asian Dia
The world cinema section will feature international festival favourites including Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall, which was awarded the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, earlier in 2023. Other notable mentions include Bradley Cooper’s Oscar-tipped Maestro and Madeleine Gavin’s Beyond Utopia, which created buzz at the Sundance Film Festival. These titles will be hosted at select screens by PVR Cinemas and at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre.
Commenting further over their rich slate of international heavyweights, Anu Rangchar, Head of International Programming, shares “We have curated some of the most discerning international titles for the festival audience. Besides the buzzworthy titles, there are several other titles that have ended up becoming Academy Award nominees from their respective countries. These titles have the innate potential to only get bigger with time. Our curation also has some hidden gems that one wouldn’t be able to otherwise watch in India, as the probability of them independently releasing here is fairly low. There's something for everyone, and we have curated the section keeping our festival audience in mind, who love to be surprised by the narratives of these films."
For 26 years, the Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival has prided itself on being a week-long celebration of films from across the world, irrespective of genres and languages. Sharing how the upcoming edition looks at retaining its legacy, festival director Anupama Chopra shares, “We hope to emerge as a melting pot of talent from across the world while spotlighting and creating more opportunities for South Asian films and filmmakers.”
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