19TH JIO MAMI  MUMBAI FILM FESTIVAL WITH STARS

( 12  - 18  OCTOBER  2017 )

Highlights

• Star studded opening at the Posh South Mumbai Liberty Cinema  with an inaugural film of Anurag Kashyap’s “Mukkabaaz”. This was also Asian premiere of the film.
• Red Carpet galore on the inaugural ceremony  was lit with glamour filled presence of Chairman MAMI Neeta Ambani,  Shridevi,   Kangna  Ranaut , Sharmila Tagore , Nandita Das   Kiran Rao, Anupama Chopra and  stars Amir Khan , Rajkumar Rao, Anupam Kher  with host of Present   generation film directors like Anurag Kashyap, Kabir Khan, Karan Johar, Imitiaz Ali  etc. On last day additions to glamour quotient and celebrities were Sonam Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Rajkumar Hirani, Ashutosh  Gowarikar,Konkona Sen Sharma, Vidhu Vinod Chopra to name a few.
• About 200 films from 29 countries were screened during the six days spread over 16 luxury auditoriums with capacity of 4974 seats in Mumbai and Thane. This large seating capacity made it easier for Fest cineists to choose the screening of their choice without hassles or serpentine queues  for those without reservation .
• For convenience and easy categorization films were divided in 14 segments viz; After Dark, Discovering India, India Gold , Marathi Talkies, Restored Classics, Special Screenings, The India Story , Tribute, Dimensions Mumbai , Half Ticket ( For children), International Competition, Rendezvous, Spotlight , The new Medium besides, Seminars, talk shows, Master Classes and Q & A with the film makers after the screening.
• For the first time ,MAMI had introduced “Movie Mandi” an online platform for film makers to find funding in collaboration with Netflix, having world wide presence.
• The popular “Movie Mela” this year was held preceding day of the festival.
• Besides the Life Time Achievement Award for Excellence in Cinema conferred  on a veteran film maker in International arena. Other  awards were the Jio-MAMI-Reliance Foundation Award for excellence in Digital content in Indian Cinema, Best film/s in International Competition , India Gold and Dimensions Mumbai awards Etc.

Comprehensive list of the  Award winners  under various categories.

HALF TICKET

The Golden Gateway Award (Feature) – ‘The Day My Father Became A Bush’ by Nicole Van Kilsdonk

The Silver Gateway Award (Feature) – ‘Cloudboy’ by Melkeminne

The Golden Gateway Award (Short) – ‘Half a Life’ by Tamara Shogaolu

The Silver Gateway Award (Short) – ‘Mduduboy boy’ by Ella Smith

YOUNG CRITICS LAB AWARD

Young Critics Award- Yashvardhan Singh.

Young Critics Choice Award- ‘Village Rockstars’ by Rima Das.

BOOK AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN WRITING ON CINEMA

The Excellence in Writing on Cinema Award (Hindi) - ‘Lata: Sur Gatha’ by Yatindra Mishra

The Excellence in Writing on Cinema Award (English) - ‘Voices Of The Talking Stars’ by Madhuja Mukherjee

MAMI-OXFAM AWARD FOR BEST FILM ON GENDER EQUALITY

Rima Das for “Village Rockstars”

Special Jury Mention- ‘The Hungry’ by Bornila Chatterjee

Jio MAMI Reliance Foundation Award for Excellence in Digital Content

The Silver Award- ‘Mandi’ by Yashovardhan Mishra.

Special Jury Mention Award- ‘Detour’ by Sumi Mathai

The Golden Award- ‘Aishwarya Ki Behen’ by Nitesh Bhatia

AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD

to the Hungarian drama ‘On Body and Soul’ by Ildiko Enyedi.

DIMENSIONS MUMBAI

The Golden Gateway Award: ‘Vacancy’ by Anurag Worlikar

The Silver Gateway Award: ‘Wolf of Chawl Street’ by Pranav Bhasin.

The Jury Special Mention: ‘Bambaiwale’ Director Chirag Suryavanshi.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

The Golden Gateway Award- ‘Summer of 1993’ by Carla Simon

The Silver Gateway Award- ‘Quest’ by Jonatahn Olshefski

The Jury Grand Prize -‘The Wound’ by John Trengove.

Special Mention - ‘I Am Not A Witch’ by Rungano Nyoni.

The Special Mention - ‘Scary Mother’ by Ana Urushadze

INDIA GOLD

The Golden Gateway Award - ‘Village Rockstars’ by Rima Das

The Silver Gateway Award-‘Machines’ by Rahul Jain

The Jury Grand Prize - ‘In the Shadows’ by Dipesh Jain

The Jury Special Mention - ‘Up, Down and Sideways’ by Anushka Meenakshi and Ishwar Srikumar.

The Jury Special Mention - ‘Sexy Durga’ by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan

BESIDES THE ABOVE AWARD WINNING FILMS, GOOD FILMS OF THIS WRITER’S CHOICE :

“Walking with the Wind” (India ) ; “Most Beautiful Island” ( USA); “Loveless” ( Russia);

“Beauty And the Dogs” ( France ) ; A Fantastic Woman” ( Chile); “Invisible”  ( Argntina)

“Siciliana Ghost Story” (Italy); “Bad Lucky Goat” ( Columbia)

-----------  MOHAN SIROYA