MIFF 2014 opens with the screening of rare films of British era; Anand Patwardhan gets V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award

The week long Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF), celebrating the best of documentary films was officially opened yesterday, with a rare insight into the life of pre-independence India. The Governor of Maharashtra, His Excellency Sankaranarayanan, inaugurated the festival by lighting the traditional lamp, in the presence of Bimal Julka, Secretary, I&B, V S Kundu, Festival Director, Members of the National & International Jury and several prominent filmmakers. Sankaranarayanan in his address appealed to the filmmakers to lend their voice to raise the problems of disadvantaged through their films. The highlight of the day was honouring veteran filmmaker Anand Patwardhan with the V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution towards promoting documentary films movement in India. Anand Patwardhan is an acclaimed documentary filmmaker known for his activism through social action documentaries on topics such as corruption, slum dwellers, nuclear arms race, citizen activism and communalism. His notable films include Bombay: Our City (Hamara Sahar) (1985), In the Name of God (Ram ke Nam) (1992), Father, Son and Holy War (Pitra, Putra aur Dharmayuddha) (1995), War and Peace (Jang aur Aman) (2002) and Jai Bhim Comrade (2011), which have won national and international awards. Jai Bhim Comrade, had won the Best Film award at MIFF 2012. Patwardhan in his acceptance speech said, “My feelings are mixed. My films speak about the reality of the disadvantaged. They have raised several socially relevant issues, but the impact has been marginal. The issues I highlighted through my films sine 1980s continue to exist – rampant demolition of slums and uprooting of poor, communal violence, increasing crime against women, atrocities against the downtrodden, nuclear arms race etc, continue to remain as serious challenges”. Patwardhan also thanked the jury for choosing him for the honour and said that such awards would help make his works more visible. The festival opened with a 86 minute package curated by the British Film Institute National Archive called Before Midnight: a Portrait of India on Film, 1899-1947. The package had a collection of home movies, documentaries, dramas and comedies that explored how life was lived in British India. Another highlight of the opening ceremony was the screening of short film titled ‘Checkmate BB’ produced by Mumbai School kids. 17 kids from 13 schools were trained to conceptualize, direct, shoot and edit a film of their own at a workshop. Indian Navy’s ceremonial Naval band and Bangalore’s noted music group – Mystic Vibes also enthralled the audience at the inaugural ceremony. What MIFF 2014 has to offer : The festival line up promises best of documentary films and the International Competition includes documentaries and short films that have been making the right noises around the festival circuit for a while. Dylan Mohan Gray's Fire in the Blood, Ian McDonald's Algorithms, Shai Heredia's I Am Micro, Kim Longinotto's Salma, Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing, and Nishtha Jain's Gulabi Gang will all be screened. The Indian section includes the likes of Shivendra Singh Dungarpur's Celluloid Man, Satyanshu Singh and Devanshu Singh's Tamaash (The Puppet) , Raja Shabir Khan's Shepherds of Paradise, Govind Raju's Golden Mango and Sunanda Bhat's Have You Seen the Arana? Detailed day-wise screening schedule can be accessed at www.miff.in