Mumbai: The 18th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival (Miff) was inaugurated in Mumbai. Organised by NFDC and the Ministry of Information and broadcasting, Government of India, the Film Festival was officially announced open by the Union Minister of State for Information And Broadcasting, Dr. L Murugan and Minister of Culture, Sudhir Mungantiwar.
The 18th edition.of Miff takes place till 21 June 2024. The festival opened with the Opening gala screening of the Documentary film ‘Billy and Molly: An otter love story’ at the NFDC-NMIC complex, and was followed by an Opening ceremony at the NCPA.
Names in attendance, included filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Anand L Rai, Amit Sharma, actors Abhishek Bannerjee, Avinash Tiwary, Divyenndu Sharma, Sonali Kulkarni, Sharad Kelkar, Taha Shah, Randeep Hooda, Divya Dutta, Vineet Singh, Pankaj Jha and Upasana Singh among many others.
The keynote inaugural address was delivered by Murugan. Also present was the Minister of Culture, Maharashtra, Sudhir Mungantiwar. The vote of thanks was delivered by the Festival director and MD NFDC, Prithul Kumar.
Murugan said that considering the growing potential of AVG sector in creating employment and generating growth, the government will soon create a Centre for Excellence in the AVGC sector in Mumbai. The minister further emphasised the government’s efforts in controlling piracy in the country by bringing forth an amendment in Cinematograph act.
Underlining Miff’s role in bringing together filmmakers from all over the world, Murugan said that documentary films play a vital role in showcasing the unique abilities, emotions and human bonds in a true and natural way. He also highlighted the efforts made by India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the country a content hub of the world. “A single window system for film facilitation is introduced so that film producers can get easy access and permissions to shoot in India. Right from Himalayas, Western Ghats, Nilgiris, beaches and ancient temples, we have beautiful locations for shooting films in India. The Government is providing many incentives to foreign film producers and companies to encourage shooting in India”, he added. Murugan also congratulated Subbiah Nallamuthu, for winning the V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
The Opening ceremony saw the screening of the Cannes award winning short film ‘Sunflowers were the first ones to know’ by Chidananda Naik. There were also cultural dance performances from Sri Lanka and a special act on the history of Animation in India.
The ceremony also paid tribute to masters of Indian parallel cinema and art with a homage film. Journey of Mumbai International Film Festival through the ages was also remembered with an audio visual film treat. The trailer of ‘Azadi ki Amrit Kahaniyan’, a public service awareness film made by Netflix to tell the story of India’s social innovators, was also released at the function.
In a bid to make the festival accessible to discerning audiences across the country, special screenings of the official screenings at the 18th MIFF have also been organised in Pune, Kolkata, Delhi and Chennai.
