The
Mumbai International Film Festival
(
MIFF
), dedicated to documentaries and shorts, started a day after Shaunak Sen won the best documentary award at
Cannes Film Festival
, and curators of the festival say the news generated more interest in documentaries. The festival, which started last weekend and is in its 17th edition, has long showcased works of filmmakers in the documentary and shorts space. This year, for the first time, the festival is being conducted in a hybrid format and sessions are available online too.
‘Documentaries educate, inspire and motivate change’Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, inaugurated the seven-day festival organised by the Films Division in Mumbai. While Anurag Thakur, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, said in a video message “documentary cinema creates the most significant impact. It not only educates, inspires and motivates a change in the society, but also acts as a tool that transcends cultures and boundaries.”
Attendees say that there are many documentaries and shorts being shown at the festival, and some screenings are so packed that cinephiles are even willing to sit on the ground and watch. James Khangenbam's Meiram – The Fireline from Manipur, and National Film award winner Lipika Singh Darai's Backstage, about the puppeteers of Odisha, were among the films screened at the festival. Mighty Little Bheem: I Love Taj Mahal had a 20-minute premiere at the festival as well. Japanese directors Yugo Sako and Koichi Saski's 1992 film Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama was also screened for kids.
This year, 11 films from Bangladesh are being screened as it is the ‘country of focus’, while four films from Iceland are also a part of the festival.
People are even willing to sit on the floor in packed audis
‘Cancelling the festival was never an option because of our commitment to filmmakers’ The seven-day festival, usually held in January, was rescheduled because of COVID restrictions.
Ravinder Bhakar
, DG, Films Division, Director MIFF, Managing Director, NFDC, tells us that the selection of documentaries and films reflect the spirit of the festival, and the sessions and screenings are witnessing a massive response. “We rescheduled the festival from January to May. Cancelling it was never an option because of our commitment to the community of filmmakers in this space. Carter Pilcher, who's a voting member of both the BAFTA and the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and had a session at MIFF, is quite impressed with the details and scale of MIFF," Bhakar says.
Speaking at his masterclass session, Pilcher pointed out that making a great short film is really about storytelling, and said, "To get Oscars, you have to tell a great story or raise an issue that needs to be solved. Everything you use for the film must serve the story." He also mentioned
Oscars' process, timelines and shared technical details.
Bhakar adds, "As a government body, we are extremely proud to connect films with its audience. At MIFF, filmmakers are pitching their next projects and are able to monetize their short films as OTT platforms and distributors have also participated in the festival. In some cases, platforms have rolled out agreements and offered upto 70% of revenues to the filmmaker."
Carter Pilcher and Ravinder Bhakar at the Mumbai International Film Festival
Oscar nomination and Cannes win have generated more interest in documentaries Chandan Samrah, curator of the northeast package at the festival, says, "I have been curating the northeast package section at MIFF since 2008. Back then I used to call filmmakers and follow-up with them, but this year, I didn't have to. My selection for this section is on the basis of good cinema and content. Over the years, with Indian documentary makers making it to Oscars and Cannes, documentaries have generated more interest. And as a result, most of the screenings are packed. I received 82 documentaries for the northeast package and among these, 14 were selected and I'm quite impressed with the range of subjects that these documentary makers have chosen. So many filmmakers from the northeast, who otherwise are isolated, not just get a chance to showcase their work at this festival, but also watch and learn from works of national and international filmmakers."
This year, 11 films from Bangladesh are being screened as it is the ‘country of focus’, while four films from Iceland are also a part of the festival.
Start a Conversation
Post comment