MUMBAI : The MAMI Mumbai Film Festival concluded its highly successful 2024 edition with a closing ceremony held at PVR INOX, Juhu, Mumbai. This year’s festival showcased an impressive lineup of over 110 films from 45+ countries in 50+ languages, solidifying its reputation as one of the most influential film festivals in South Asia. Spanning two venues, PVR INOX and Regal Cinema, the festival featured 20 world premieres, 25+ Asia premieres, and 35+ South Asia premieres, bringing a wide spectrum of cinematic storytelling to the forefront.
The festival’s prestigious awards were presented during the closing ceremony, honouring remarkable talent across various competition categories. The South Asia Competition jury, led by Rada Šešić, along with members Clarence Tsui, Kate Laurie, Jérôme Baron, and Marie Fuglestein Lægreid, awarded the Golden Gateway Award to Rhythm of a Flower (Phool Ka Chand) by Amit Dutta and Silver Gateway Award to Nocturnes by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan. The Special Jury Prize was presented to The Fable by Raam Reddy followed by a Special Mention to Girls Will Be Girls by Shuchi Talati.
The NETPAC Jury, consisting of Dr. Ida Yoshinaga, Dr. Tsengel Davaasambuu, and Upali Gamlath, presented the NETPAC Special Mention to Shambala by Min Bahadur Bham and Agent of Happiness by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó. The NETPAC Award was presented to Girls Will Be Girls by Shuchi Talati.
The Dimensions Mumbai jury included Amit Masurkar, Chaitanya Tamhane, and Paromita Vohra, presented the Gold Award to BMCLD by Shreela Agarwal and Silver Award to A Tale of Two Cities by Sameeha Sabnis and I Was Painted Red by Bhagyesh Rajeshirke was given.
The Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films Jury, featuring Aditi Rao Hydari, Hansal Mehta, and Rajshri Deshpande, recognised Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films, Best Film to Ade (On A Sunday) by Theja Rio and Special Jury Prize to Coming Back to Life (Et Moi, Je Revis) by Mantra Watsa for their excellence in short filmmaking.
The Film Critics Guild Gender Sensitivity Award, presented by Monika Rawal, Rohit Khilnani, and Sanyukta Thakare, honoured Girls Will Be Girls by Shuchi Talati for challenging traditional gender stereotypes and advancing nuanced narratives.
In addition to these awards, the festival also celebrated contributions to cinema with the Best Book on Cinema Award was to The Age of Heroes: The Incredible World of Telugu Cinema by Mukesh Manjunath, for Rashid Irani Best Young Critic winner was Sarth Patel and runners-up were Saanvi Tara Dwivedi and Rushnan Jaleel.Additionally, Girls Will Be Girls by Shuchi Talati was awarded with Rashid Irani Young Critics Choice Award. The prestigious Excellence in Cinema Award, was presented to Shabana Azmi for her outstanding contribution to the world of film.
The closing ceremony was followed by the screening of Sean Baker’s Anora which had its South Asia Premiere. One of the most anticipated films at the festival, it is based on a story of Ani (Mikey Madison), a Brooklyn sex worker who gets mixed up with the Russian mafia.
While receiving the award for her co-production, Richa Chaddha shared, “This award means a lot. We were hoping for good audience in our country. This will always be an Indian film even if it's an international coproduction. Kudos to MAMI film festival for pulling it off. Its always the freedom of expression and that is what matters.”
Adding to her Shuchi Talati shared, “I am just overwhelmed, honored. But I feel sometimes filmmakers make a distinction between art-house, independent cinema and commercial cinema as if this particular genre will only have a small section of audience. But I feel what we are taking away from the awards, we are taking away from the screenings where the audience gave so much love to our film.”
Ali Fazal shared, “I have been watching the entire process of filmmaking on the sidelines. Richa and I are co-producers with multiple others. It's been the most humbling and huge learning process as actors to watch Shuchi at play and all the actors.”
Manoj Bajpayee whose film The Fable won Critics Choice Award for South Asia competition shared, “I know what we all went through (during the making of The Fable). It all started before Corona. So we went back then we again went back up the mountain. So, we have seen a lot, gone through a lot. We waited patiently as we all believed in the film. I would like to thank Ram for considering me for this film.” Congratulating and teasing Richa Chaddha for the wins of Go Noni Go, he said, “I felt Richa Chaddha was teasing me. Like, look I am winning. But I am very very proud Richa, you know that."
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