The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival concluded with its closing ceremony, where the films ‘Against the Tide’ by Sarvnik Kaur, ‘Bahadur – The Brave’ by Diwa Shah, and ‘Agra’ by Kanu Behl received top honors. The 10-day film gala marked the return of the festival with its first on-ground edition in three years.
The South Asia Competition awards were presented by the jury, headed by renowned director Mira Nair, which included Australian writer and filmmaker David Michod, Filipino filmmaker and actor Isabel Sandoval, and French film critic and festival director Edouard Waintrop. ‘Against the Tide’ was awarded the Golden Gateway award, ‘Bahadur – The Brave’ received the Silver Gateway award, and ‘Agra’ was honored with the Special Jury Award.
Another award, the film critics guild gender sensitivity award, was given to ‘Barir Naam Shahana’ (‘A House Named Shahana’) by Leesa Gazi. This award celebrates a feature that challenges gender stereotypes and norms.
The Rashid Irani young critics lab special program, created by MAMI to nurture young writers within the realm of cinema, recognized Shahrukhkhan Chavada’s film ‘Kayo Kayo Colour?’ (Which Colour).
This year, the festival introduced a new category of award in collaboration with Civic Studios, the Light Camera Impact Award. This award recognized two non-feature films focusing on subjects of climate, sexuality, and caste.
‘Civic Studios founder Anushka Shah and filmmaker Kiran Rao presented this award to the winners – ‘Blackhole’ by Pradyumna Patil and ‘Praan Pratishthana’ (Consecration) by Pankaj Sonawane. ‘Flowering Man’ by Soumyajit Ghosh Dastidar received a special mention in this category.
The festival also featured the MAMI Select-Filmed on iPhone initiative, where emerging filmmakers were given the opportunity to reimagine traditional cinematic conventions by creating high-quality short films shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max and edited on the MacBook Pro. Five filmmakers – Archana Atul Phadke, Faraz Ali, Prateek Vats, Saurav Rai, and Saumyananda Sahi – representing the newest wave of Indian cinema were mentored and guided by filmmakers Vishal Bhardwaj, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Rohan Sippy as part of this initiative.
One of the most anticipated awards was the IMDb audience choice award, presented to ‘The Monk and the Gun’ by Pawo Choyning Dorji. This award recognizes the most popular film at the festival, as chosen by the festival attendees.
The closing ceremony featured a screening of Sofia Coppola’s film ‘Priscilla’, based on Priscilla Presley’s biography ‘Elvis and Me’. The festival was attended by several celebrities, including Janhvi Kapoor, Vishal Bhardwaj, Manushi Chillar, Kiran Rao, and Mira Nair.
The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival showcased over 300 films in 70 languages from 70 different countries. Notably, about 70 of these films were directed by female filmmakers, highlighting the festival’s commitment to promoting diverse voices in cinema.
The festival will continue to screen popular titles on November 4 and 5.
