Behind MAMI Film Festival: 200 hands, a year of planning and many sleepless nights (2024)

In an exclusive interview with us, MAMI director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur shares his insights into putting up a film festival of this stature, and how they are confident about the selection of films this year.

Behind MAMI Film Festival: 200 hands, a year of planning and many sleepless nights (1)

What goes behind putting up MAMI film festival (Photo: MAMI team)

It's that time of the year when the home-grown MAMI (Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image) Film Festival will keep cinephiles on their toes for the next five days. More than 110 films from over 45 countries in as many as 50 languages have been scheduled to be screened from October 19-24.

On Friday evening, October 18, Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine as Light, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes earlier this year, was screened as part of the opening ceremony. On the sidelines of the same, India Today Digital spoke to MAMI director, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, about what goes behind putting up this festival.

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"They didn't want the festival to have any added prefixes"

As per sources, this year, the festival began without a title sponsor as Jio backed out after its five-year contract. Addressing the same, Dungarpur, who is also the Film Heritage Foundation's director, mentioned how they wanted the festival to have no added prefixes or taglines. He also shared that they wanted to keep the festival more intimate to ensure people got to interact with each other, and could also meet all the filmmakers attending the event.

"It's happening at two venues this time, Juhu and Regal cinema. We made it smaller to retain the festival feel. We wanted people to meet the filmmakers and have a conversation. It should feel like a celebration, and not spread across. We did not want it to seem scattered all over the city," he shared.

Apart from the registration fees, the festival has also received funds, though limited this year. However, Dungarpur is confident about the lineup, which would be a real crowd-puller. "Apart from Payal's film, we also have Anora as our closing film, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year. We have great films from South Asia and novel competitions and some classics from world cinema. Richa Chadha's produced Girls Will Be Girls is also being screened. Another highlight is Shabana Azmi who was honoured with the Excellence in Cinema Award, handed by the legendary Waheeda Rahman."

Honouring Shabana Azmi

Talking more about Azmi and why she was chosen for this award, the festival director said, "It's important for a festival like ours to honour an actor of her stature. If we don't do it, who will? MAMI has consistently shown her work at the festival. Shabana will also be indulging in a conversation with Vidya Balan, which is going to be another key highlight of the festival," he shared.

Behind MAMI Film Festival: 200 hands, a year of planning and many sleepless nights (3)

Dungarpar also opened up about choosing Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine as Light as the opening film. Not many know that the filmmaker has a long association with him, having started her career with the Film Heritage Foundation. "It was always in mind as it's a film perfect for a Mumbai festival. It's an independent cinema that projects the story of the city and its women. We should be celebrating our cinema, and not be dependent on international films for opening. We were very clear that it would be her film; we need to celebrate home-grown talent," he added.

Giving more insights into what goes behind putting up a festival like this, the director said that they will start working on the next one, as soon as the first one gets over. "It takes a year to put it up. As soon as the festival ends, the next month, the team gets to work for the next one. It’s continuous work as you want to keep thinking about what can be done next. You are looking for something better, as MAMI needs to have the best,” he shared.

The joy of putting up a film festival

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While the team has around 30-40 permanent staff, they hire extra hands for the festival, which includes PRs, event management and even volunteers. "The count can go up to 100 people during the festival," Dungarpur said. He also laughed and said while they have many sleepless nights, it's all a joy at the end of the day when they see people enjoying films in the theatres. He shared that the team has been working 24X7 addressing queries and requests from the industry, students and film lovers. However, they have maintained the fact that the process would be fair, and all registered patrons would be treated equally.

Withholding the exact numbers of the registration, the director shared that last year the count was more than 10K. "We will have better numbers this time and we are awaiting the final numbers. MAMI is the most popular film festival in the city as it represents the vibrancy of Mumbai and reflects the regional paths through our selected films. We also encourage independent cinema, and it can be such a boost for young filmmakers, who are struggling. They can gain confidence that their dreams could be a reality soon," Shivendra Dungarpur added.

The MAMI Film Festival will be held from October 19-24 in Mumbai.

Published By:

Vineeta Kumar

Published On:

Oct 20, 2024

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Behind MAMI Film Festival: 200 hands, a year of planning and many sleepless nights (2024)

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