Jio MAMI 2023 curtain raiser: MAMI Mumbai Film Festival returns in physical form, with over 250 films & South Asian competition

(Clockwise from top, left) Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival director Anupama Chopra; stills from the films Dilli Dark, Bahadur the Brave, Rapture, Joram, World is Family, Sthal, Kennedy, Against the Tide.

Many independent filmmakers in the country were up in arms when the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival failed to show up in the past three years. They were outraged at the sudden loss of prized premieres at the prestigious festival after having been chosen as official selection. There were signature campaigns and angry petitions that reflected the frustration of filmmakers who had missed opportunities at other major international festivals in the country. Back after its last edition in 2019, it seems the festival hasn't forgotten those protests.

The Mumbai Film Festival, which will be held from October 27 to November 5, will have a new section called Recap, to revisit its selection between 2020 and 2022 when the event didn't take place. There are 36 films in this category, among them the Toronto and Cannes award winner, A Night of Knowing Nothing by Payal Kapadia, Tamil film Nasir by Arun Karthick, Adh Chanani Raat (Crescent Night) by Gurvinder Singh, Toronto 2022 premiere Dug Dug by Ritwik Pareek, Fire in the Mountains by Ajitpal Singh, Cannes 2021 premiere Invisible Demons by Rahul Jain, Venice premieres, Once Upon a Time in Calcutta by Aditya Vikram Sengupta and Meel Patthar (Milestone) by Ivan Ayr, Malayalam film Paka (River of Blood) by Nithin Lukose and the Kannada film Pedro by Natesh Hegde.

"It is a great opportunity to showcase my film to an audience in a cinema hall in India for the first time," says Malayalam filmmaker Lukose, whose debut feature, Paka, was selected for India premiere at the MAMI festival in 2022 after its world premiere at the Toronto festival. "The screening at the Mumbai festival helps independent filmmakers like me to have a direct conversation with my audience," adds the Film and Television Institute of India FTII) alumnus.

A retrospective of Malayalam actor Bharat Gopi will have films such as Kodiyettam by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Chidambaram by G Aravindan, Yavanika by KG George, who passed away last month, Aghaat by Govind Nihalani and Kattathe Kilikkoodu by Bharathan.

Bahadur The Brave by Diwa Shah is a Kumaoni-Nepalese language film shot in Nainital about Nepalese migrant workers in Uttarakhand.

The most-sought-after categories at the festival promise to be the focus on South Asian Cinema. The new South Asian Competition category has 14 films, including four world premieres, by first and second-time directors, including those from the South Asian diaspora. A notable absentee in this section is Pakistan. Among the entries are San Sebastian festival's New Directors award-winner Bahadur The Brave by Nainital-based Diwa Shah about the life and struggle of Nepalese migrant workers in Uttarakhand, Venice-premiered The Red Suitcase by Nepalese director Fidel Devkota, Marathi film Sthal (A Match) by Jayant Somalkar on arranged marriages in rural India, Garo-language film Rimdogittanga (Rapture) by Meghalaya filmmaker Dominic Sangma about the fear of the other in contemporary society.

Garo language film Rimdogittanga (Rapture) by Meghalaya filmmaker Dominic Sangma is about the fear of the other in contemporary society.

Sthal, the debut feature of Somalkar who co-wrote and co-directed the Amazon Prime Video Original Series Guilty Minds, won the NETPAC award for the Best Asian Film at the Toronto festival last month. Dilli Dark, the debut feature by former advertising professional Dibakar Das Roy — one of the four world premieres in South Asia Competition section — tells the story of a Nigerian boy in Delhi who dreams of getting his MBA and settling in India. "I had to create an African protagonist who would traverse the different strata of Delhi, exposing our innate biases," says Roy referring to Delhi's notorious hostility to outsiders.

Dilli Dark by Dibakar Das Roy, part of South Asian Competition, tells the story of a Nigerian boy in Delhi who is dreaming of getting his MBA degree and settling in India.

A whopping 46 films, including 24 non-features are part of a non-competitive Focus South Asia category for feature and short format movies by South Asian and South Asian diaspora directors. Chingari (The Spark) by Rajesh S Jala, which had its world premiere at the Busan film festival, Vinay Shukla's documentary Namaskar! Main Ravish Kumar (While We Watched), FTII alumnus Yudhajit Basu's Marathi short film, Nehemich, and Slow Shift by Shambhavi Kaul are part of the new section.

A stil lfrom Sthal (A Match) by Jayanta Digambar Somalkar.

The South Asia focus continues with another new category called Icons: South Asia, a non-competitive section for new works by established South Asian filmmakers. The selection has Paradise by veteran Sri Lankan filmmaker Prasanna Vithanage, Something Like an Autobiography by Bangladeshi director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and Anand Patwardhan's new documentary Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World is Family), a rare portrait of his family's links with the freedom movement.

Anand Patwardhan's new documentary Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The World is Family).

Out of competition entries include gala premieres of Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa by Rajat Kapoor, a world premiere, and Kennedy by Anurag Kashyap. The World Cinema section has 99 films, including Polish auteur Agnieszka Holland's controversial film on migrants, Green Border, British director Ken Loach's migrant drama The Old Oak, Polish documentary director Maciek Hamela's In the Rearview about his own evacuation of families from war-torn Ukraine, Perfect Days by German filmmaker Wim Wenders, American actor-director Bradley Cooper's Maestro on the life of American conductor Leonard Bernstein, Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania's powerful hybrid film Four Daughters based on the real life story of a young woman radicalised by ISIS in Libya, Fallen Leaves by Finnish master Aki Kaurismäki and Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda's Monster.

Sunny Leone in Anurag Kashyap's Kennedy.

Dimensions Mumbai, a competitive section for short films on filmmakers' response to the city of Mumbai first introduced by actor Jaya Bachchan in 2009, returns with 15 entries. Marathi Talkies, a section dedicated to Marathi cinema, has 17 entries, including Ashish Bende's new movie, Aatmapamphlet (Auto-bio Pamphlet) and Sujay Dahake's Shyamchi Aai (Shyam’s Mother). The Restored Classics section has 11 films, including Chocolat by French director Claire Denis, Manipuri film Ishanou (The Chosen One) by Aribam Syam Sharma and Millennium Mambo by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien.

A still from veteran Aribam Syam Sharma's Manipuri film 'Ishanou'.