29 October,2009 07:45 AM IST | | Deepa Gahlot
The bad news first: Jafar Panahi the acclaimed filmmaker from Iran, who was to be on the jury for the international competition of first films,u00a0 at the 11th Mumbai Film Festival, was not allowed to leave the country. All efforts to obtain permission for him to come to Mumbai failed. So, news is that at the last minute, Sri Lankan director Vimukthi Jayasundara is expected to take his place, alongside Paul Schrader, Shaji Karun, Brillante Mendoza from the Philippines (whose extra-violent film Kinatay is in the festival line-up) and Irene Bignardi from Italy.
Now, the good news: This year, perhaps for the first time, the Film Festival organised by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) has a stunning selection of films.u00a0 This is what generous support from Big Pictures, and a knowledgeable director S Narayanan have achieved. After 11 years, it finally looks like this is a film festival of truly international standards. All this while, the MAMI Festival had been chugging along, and managing to get some good films, but this year's programme is awe-inspiring. Films have come with accolades from other festivals like Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto Locarno and Pusan. The Mumbai Film Festival has also acquired recognition from FIAPF, the international producers' organization that regulates film festivals which means, henceforth, the MAMI film fest will not be pushed around from one month to the next, and get its due on the festival calendar.
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Too rich? In fact, the biggest complaint would be that with 200 odd films, the programme is just too rich. Considering that even if a film buff catches all films scheduled in a day, only 35 films can be managed over a week. There is bound to be heartburn over missed films, and with small halls, at the three multiplex venues, there will be stampedes for the better known films (to be expected for Lars Von Trier's controversial Antichrist).
Star-studded: True film aficionados are looking forward to the five-film retrospective by Greek master Theo Angelopoulos, who will be here in time for the closing film u2014 his latest Dust of Time u2014 and to accept the Lifetime Achievement Award from MAMI. The other film great to be honoured this year is Shashi Kapoor, who has so far turned down all such awards.u00a0 The rest of the film community is awaiting the arrival of Paul Schrader, whose script of Taxi Driver is enough to guarantee immortality, but his filmography is studded with gems. Fans will hang on to his every word.
The opener: The 11th MAMI Festival opens today with Steven Soderbergh's Matt Damon starrer The Informant. His other new film The Girlfriend Experience is also part of the Festival. What can we say, but 'wish you were here.'
