Mumbai, October 18th: With the 13th Mumbai Film Festival nearing its end and another three days to go, the excitement continues to be roaring. ‘Melancholia’, ‘The Yellow Sea’ ‘Histórias Que Só Existem Quando São Lembradas’, ‘Abu, Son Of Adam ’, ‘Teesri Manzil’ and were without doubt the popular movies for the day.
Dimensions Mumbai section jury for which Kiran Rao, Renuka Shahane, Vikramaditya Motwane, Onir and Nishikant Kamat were present. Encouraging the young talents and new generation of film makers Kiran Rao said, “It’s a great step forward to encourage young film makers. This is my first experience as a jury member and I must say it has been great”. She further suggested, “We should try and screen these short films before a regular movie screening in theatres. This would give a great platform to budding film makers”.
Kamat added, “Each film had a compelling storyline that portrayed Mumbai and its attractions really well, but along with this, we as a panel are also judging movies on their technical aspects and how well these components translate into a complete movie”.Appreciating the efforts of the young directors Renuka Shahane said, “It’s a big thing to say so much in five minutes, but the thoughts of these directors are very calculated”.
Later in the evening Salim Ahamed director of Abu, Son of Adam (National award winning film and India’s entry for Oscars) was present for the screening of his movie. Talking on his movie he said, “When I used to work in a travel agency many people would come to me for going to Haj, and that’s when I got inspired from a real life incident and it stayed with me for a really long time. So, I decided to make this into a movie as soon as I got the opportunity.”
The open forum had prominent critics and director Nikhil Advani discuss the relevance of film reviews and if they really matter today? Speaking at the forum the critics addressed the aspect of how they understand all films involve hard work and toil, however also criticized that at times filmmakers and those involved, offer sums to alter their perception and rating of a particular movie.
Commenting on how critics are being churned out by every publication and portal, Nikhil Advani said, “Now everyone believes in reviews. Everybody is becoming a critic and trade analyst.”
The day concluded with houseful screenings of ‘Melancholia’. The highlight of the evening was the special screening of ‘Teesri Manzil’ as part of the special Homage to Shammi Kapoor for which Shammi Kapoor’s son Aditya Raj Kapoor was present. Aditya said, “It is a great feeling that Mumbai Film Festival is honoring Shammi Kapoor by screening Teesri Manzil on the big screen. The joy of watching Teesri Manzil on big screen is completely out of this world. When I saw the film last year, I was with dad and Asha aunty. That was in fact the first time that dad also saw the film for the first time on the big screen after its premiere. This time it would be a bit sad as dad isn’t around, but I hope everyone enjoys the film nonetheless.”
The 6th day concluded with much fanfare with audiences praising the arrangements and schedule of the day. With the festival drawing closer to its end, audiences are packing in to catch the best of world cinema in the city.
Day 5 At The 13th Mumbai Film Festival
Mumbai, October 17th: With the 13th Mumbai Film Festival on in full swing, Monday was the least bit blue. While ‘Pina’ was undoubtedly the movie that was on most people’s ‘to watch’ list and enthusiasts queued up outside the auditorium three hours prior to the show timing, movies such as ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘17 Girls’, ‘Revolution Revisited’ and ‘Fabienne’ were the other highlights for the day. Celebrity guests for today included Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy along with wife Kiran and son Rohan Sippy, Shabana Azmi, Tarun Mansukhani, Anurag Kashyap, Rohan Sippy, Abhishek Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey, Shahana Goswami and Rajit Kapoor amongst many others.
The 5th day saw a packed house discussing the portrayal of gay and lesbianism in new Indian Cinema. Tarun Mansukhani, Aseem Chabbra, Onir, Rajit Kapoor, Sridhar Rangayan and Rajeev Masand were present.
Speaking on the conservativeness of homosexuality in Indian Cinema Tarun Mansukhani said “There is homophobia in our country. In Dostana, I was not joking on the community, in fact, all gay men in the movie were proud of it. But If John and Abhishek were really gay they would not have played the characters nor would have anyone bought the film”. Rajit expressed that the topic should be dealt with a lot of sensitivity. “In India, women don’t even want to play the role of mothers; so lesbian characters are farfetched.” he said.
Onir whose movies ‘My Brother Nikhil’ and ‘I Am’ deals with homosexuality quipped, “I don’t get producers easily; they always tell me a “no”. What is obscene in two men kissing?” Commenting the homophobic nature of Indian viewers, Shridhar said, “There is more anxiety in Indian audience than homophobia. If the audience will look at them normally, actors will react normally on such roles.” Aseem added, “The understanding of the lifestyle of queers is the main issue which is to be dealt with first. The country has a long way to go before a full acceptance”
‘A Decent Arrangement’ directed by debutant director Sarovar Banka and starring Shaban Azmi was also screened at the Mumbai film festival in the section Film India Worldwide. When asked about working with first time directors Shabana Azmi said “I can easily say I have worked with largest number of first time directors. They rejuvenate me, their passion is immensely allergic”. Giving her views on Indian cinema going global and many Hollywood producers coming to India to shoot their movies she said, “World is becoming a global village. It’s very interesting to know their views on India. For me, working has been like being in the right place at the right time”.
In the evening Gajendra Ahire, Alka Kubal- Athalye, Rajesh Pinjani and Samrudhi Pore discussed about the focus on the Marathi film industry. Alka said, “These days English is becoming a preferred language amongst youngsters and across a lot of sectors, but that is not taking away from the increasing standards of Marathi cinema.”
The fifth day concluded on the same level of excitement it started with. One looks forward to the 6th day of the 13th Mumbai Film Festival with more stars and equally important films raining on cine goers and festival attendees.
Day 4 At The 13th Mumbai Film Festival
Mumbai, 16th October: The fourth day of the 13th Mumbai Film Festival continued to enthrall cinema buffs. Unprecedented numbers of film goers and cinema enthusiasts thronged the cinemas. Accompanying the audience for the movie screenings were celebrities such as Ashutosh Gowarikar, Vishal Bharadwaj, Shabana Azmi, Makarand Deshpande, Divya Dutta, Sakshi Tanwar, Raj Zutshi, Brijesh Hirjee, Pravesh Rana, Onir, Satish Kaushik, Irawati Harshe and Aly Khan amongst many others.
The star movie of the day was undoubtedly George Clooney’s ‘The Ides Of March’which once again saw unprecedented numbers of audiences queue up for it. The star cast of ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’, which was screened at the festival were also present. In attendance were Raj Zutshi, Divya Dutta, Divya Jagdale and the magnificent kids. The surprise announcement of the film winning the best actor award at Children Young Audience SCHLINGEL made here left them all overwhelmed. Divya Dutta shared how all of them learned from the kids and lived their childhood again. She said, “It was like going to school again. When I asked Amole to give me a script he gave me a 4th std text book to read.”Raj added, “Stanley for me is very organic. It has crossed borders. Great works come out of constraint and restrain”.
The open forum discussion for the day was on ‘Room for Independent Cinema today’ that saw noted producers Madhu Mantena, Sunil Doshi, director Aijas Khan and Film Curator Ian Birnie discuss the increasing demand for independent cinema.
Madhu Mantenaexplained that there are actors and talent who are receptive of working with independent producers. He said, “The biggest stumbling block is the talent that we are working with, fail to understand independent producers. We have not collaborated well with each other. The role of a producer is often not more than a financer.”
Sunil Doshiproducer of movies such as ‘Bheja Fry’, ‘Mixed Doubles’ to name a few, added light on the system. He said, “I have not lost a single penny on any movies that I have produced. There is definitely space for independent cinema to co-exist. It’s crucial to have your budgeting in place and also involve as many team members as possible from the scripting stage itself.”
Makarand Deshpande the director of ‘Miss Sundari’ which was also screened at Mumbai Film Festival today said, “I have portrayed death auspiciously in my film. I make films to put life into them. Cinema is a medium to express”. Directors Jabbar Pateland Girish Kasaravalli’s National Award winning movies ‘Samna’and ‘Ghatashraddha’ were also screened today under the Indian retrospective section.
Furthermore seen at the festival’s Mumbai Film Mart were Saakshi Tanwar and Anand Tiwari whose film ‘Bawra Mann’ and ‘O Re Manvaa’ was showcased. In attendance at the Mart were the representatives of all major Production houses. A staggering hundred meetings took place today at the mart and over thousand odd meeting requests were put forward. In the two days over 300 meetings have been carried out. Nishit Desai and associates’ team of legal experts were present at the Mart offering free legal consultations.
The fourth day was yet again power packed with glitz, glamour and the best of world cinema. The Mumbai Festival’s growing popularity was validated this day too.
Day 3 At The 13th Mumbai Film Festival
Mumbai, 15th October: The third day of 13th Mumbai Film Festival continued with fervor. Following the two power packed days, the third day saw the opening of the 4th Rendez-vous with French Cinema, with ‘The Artist’ (competed at the Cannes Film Festival 2011) as the opening film. Unprecedented numbers of audiences were witnessed for the two screenings of the film, following which a third screening of the film was also announced for today.
Present on the third day of the highly popular film festival, were the likes of Yash Chopra, Shyam Benegal, Anurag Kashyap, Kiran Rao, Riteish Deshmukh, Ayaan Mukherjee, Shahana Goswami, Onir, Vikramaditya Motwane, Santosh Sivan, Bhushan Kumar, Adoor Gopalkrishnan, Aamna Sharif, French Director Martin Provostamongst numerous others.
Films that attracted most audience included ‘The Artist’, ‘She Monkey’s’, ‘The Whistle Blower’, ‘Generation P’, ‘Michael’ and ‘Urumi’ amongst others.
Also, under the aegis of the Mumbai Film Festival, the three day long Mumbai Film Mart (MFM), which is being held from 15th- 17th October kick started today. The press conference held to announce the same saw Stephan Holl, Managing Director of Rapid Eye from Germany, David Jourdan, Sr Vice President of IM Global from USA, Akifumi Sugihara, Director of Nikkatsu from Corp Japan, Eugene Kim of Showbox and BJ Park President of Apex Entertainment from South Korea on the panel along with Sanjeev Lamba, CEO Reliance Entertainment discuss how film festivals should not only be a platform for film showcasing, but also felicitate opportunities for global business. These and many more leading film companies from non- traditional markets have been scheduled to meet representatives from companies such as Reliance Entertainment, Yashraj Films, Eros, UTV, Balaji, PVR Pictures, Cinemax, Shemaroo and Cinergy amongst many others in the coming days, to explore distribution opportunities for forthcoming Indian movies as well as catalog movies.
Riteish Deshmukh who was present to attend the screening of Santosh Sivan's 'Urumi' said, “I’ve observed that Mumbai Film Festival has been growing every year. It’s a good opportunity to watch different types of movies under one roof with the people who have a great sense of world cinema.” Commenting on Marathi movies participation in Mumbai Film festival he said, “These days the content of Marathi movies is very powerful and it should reach to Hindi film audience as well”.
Commenting on the wide range of films being shown at the festival Yash Chopra said, “The audience at this festival has variety of movies to watch. There is something for everyone here and response has always been very encouraging making this festival bigger and better every year.”
Shyam Benegal added, “As soon as I entered the main entrance gate for the Mumbai Film Festiva this afternoon, I was pleased to see huge number of movie enthusiasts attending the festival. We have a set of crème world class cinema for all kind of audience. While it’s not difficult to show the different kind of movies, it is difficult to find the attendance for such movies, but the response at Mumbai Film Festival is extremely high and positive.”
The open forum discussion for the day saw Rohan Sippy, Sameer Hoon President - VFX, Prana Studios, Naresh Malik- COO Reliance Media Works, Amit Roy and Sarak Mckenzie discuss how digital tools have helped cinema. Sharing his experience of shooting and releasing movies digitally Rohan said “Digital brings advancement as compared to the older cinemas. Films always come with new challenges it totally depends how creatively an efficiently you use. Films can also be shot in different formats and it basically depends upon the budget.”
The day’s festivities ended with a cocktail evening hosted by the French Embassy in India and Unifrance, which saw the likes of Ramesh Sippy, Shyam Benegal, Anurag Kashyap, Pitobash, Kalki Koechlin, Vikramaditya Motwane, Onir, Mr Jean Raphael Peytregnet, Consul General of France, French directors Martin Provost, Nassim Amaouche, sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulinamongst others in attendance.
With large numbers attending the film festival, the fact that the Mumbai Film Festival is growing in popularity is only validated. With a glam-packed third day, one looks forward to day four.
Day 2 At The 13th Mumbai Film Festival
Mumbai, 14th October: The second day of 13th Mumbai Film Festival saw cinema enthusiasts flock to Cinemax Versova, Cinemax Sion and Metro Big Cinemas since wee hours of the day.
Ramesh Sippy, Kiran Juneja, Sanjay Suri, Ketan Mehta, Vinay Shukla, Vikramaditya Motwane, Anjum Rajabali, Swanand Kirkire, Anaida, Reema Lagoo, Rajat Barmecha (Udaan fame) Sharmani Mukherjee, Chitra Palekar, Reema Lagoo, Bijon Das Gupta were spotted the festival. Apart from international films such as ‘Las Acasias’, ‘The Salesman’, ‘My Little Princess’, ‘The Turin Horse’ amongst others that attracted attention, Indian films screened today included Satayjit Ray’s ‘Pather Panchali’, Umesh Kulkarni’s ‘Deool’- which had its world premiere, Prashant Nair directed ‘Delhi In A Day’ and more.
Commenting on the occasion of the world premiere screening of Deool, Director Umesh Kulkarni said, “Mumbai Film Festival is a great platform to have a world premiere of our movie, since it is a large format event having various cosmopolitan and International movie buffs for which we have organized the movie print with English subtitles. This is my third film and I’m looking forward to its release. After 4-5 years of research we have readied Deool for which our entire team has worked in the rural parts of Maharashtra.”
An interactive open forum on Innovative co- productions and crowd funding was held this afternoon. Moderated by Reliance Entertainment CEO Sanjeev Lamba- the panelists included actor – producer Sanjay Suri, Director Ketan MehtaRussian, director Vicktor Geinsberg and ‘Dehi in a Day’ Director Prashant Nair who shared their experiences and obstacles in gathering funds for their movies.
Sanjay commenting on his movie ‘I Am’, which has about 400 co- producers said “One has to be transparent. In India people don’t do charity because they think it won’t go to the needy. I wanted to make a bonafide film where I could dictate the terms. It’s always important to plan distribution whenever you plan production.”
Prashant Nair whose film ‘Delhi in a Day’ was the opening film of the Film India Worldwide section at the 13th Mumbai film festival had also raised funds to make his film in India. He discussed on the basic money round up that film maker goes through i.e. private equity, intelligent use of incentives, government support, online funding and leveraging support groups.
Victor Geinsberg gave his unique idea of including brands in the film to raise funds. He shared how everybody in Russia had declared his movie would not work because of its foul language and bold drug scenes. He had integrated various brands in his movie and that’s when he realized that they would be able to fund him. Ketan Mehtagave an overview of funding films from the ancient ways of film funding till the facebook generation of funding films.
With a tremendous turnout and a stunning array of films showcased this day, one only looks forward to the remaining days of this growing film festival.
13th Mumbai Film Festival Sets The Ball Rolling With Brad Pitt Starrer ‘Moneyball’
Director- producer Yash Chopra and Actress Dia Mirza light the lamp to mark the commencement of the festival.
Mumbai, 13th October, 2011: The 13th Mumbai Film Festival, a Reliance Entertainment initiative, organized by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) kick started with the much anticipated film ‘Moneyball’starring Brad Pitt and directed Bennett Miller. The film was screened on all the screens at the festival’s main venue- Cinemax Versova.
Marking the auspicious commencement of the 13th Mumbai Film Festival director- producer Yash Chopra lit the lamp along with actress Dia Mirza, President of Film & TV Producers Guild Ramesh Sippy and trustee of MAMI Amit Khanna in attendance. Joining them were the International Competition jury members Hugh Hudson (Jury President), Jerzy Skolimowski, Na Hong- Jin, Roger Spottiswoode and Sarika.
The red carpet saw various celebrities, cinephiles, delegates and media arrive for the ‘Moneyball’ screening with great enthusiasm. The screening of the movie was then followed by a red carpet at Sun N Sand for the opening ceremony and dinner function that saw in attendance various B-town celebrities such as Abhinay Deo, Vikramaditya Motwane, Rohan Sippy and Golide Behl amongst many others.
The jury members of all the sections- International Competition, Dimensions Mumbai and Harmony Celebrate Age were introduced to the guests present at the function.
Commenting on this occasion, Srinivasan Narayanan, Festival Director, 13th Mumbai Film Festival, said, “The 13th Mumbai Film Festival has certainly begun with a tremendous turnout. We sincerely hope that all those attending will see the effort put behind organizing this popular festival and hope that this year’s selection of films satisfies their appetite of quality cinema.”
While the opening day of the 13th Mumbai film festival wound up with great pomp and celebration, the second day 14th October will see close to 50 movies being screening at Cinemax Versova, Cinemax Sion and Metro Big Cinemas and various celebrities and movie buffs in attendance.
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