The over the years, has become a symbol of the city’s love for the movies. As the prestigious film gala sees a change of leadership this year, with film archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur taking on the role of the festival director, he says the idea is to bring independent cinema to the forefront. The festival, which opens tomorrow, aims to celebrate both emerging and established voices.
“This year, we are in a phase of transition. One [change] is that it’s just MAMI. No festival in the world has a tagline.
We have come back to the original name,” starts Dungarpur, addressing head-on that Jio, the long-standing festival sponsor, has pulled out this time. “The second important thing is that [over time], we didn’t feel like a festival. It has to be made into a celebration.
We shouldn’t be spread out so massively that a guy from Juhu cannot meet a director, who is presenting [his film] in Goregaon. In film festivals, you should have to make little effort to go and experience the whole thing. Even with limited funding, we have got great programming this time—there is the South Asian competition, novel competition, we’ve got classics and the best of world cinema.
But what was essential for me was to have an opening film that is truly Indian.” This pursuit led him to Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Grand Prix-winning film, . Dungarpur says the drama stands for two things that the festival stands for—the city of Mumbai, and rooting for indie filmmakers.
“A young fi.