08 October,2013 07:45 AM IST | | The Guide Team
With celluloid taking over the many screens of the city, this month, it is time to celebrate women in front of and behind camera. As part of Mumbai Women's International Film Festival that begins tomorrow, film buffs in the city can catch short films, documentaries, public service announcements and feature films dedicated to, by and for women. A one-of-a-kind festival in all of India, the event has attracted applications from70 countries.
Posters of The Saroj Khan Story and Ceramic Tango, two of the 180 films that will be shown at the festival
Avinash Vasant Pawar, festival director, shares, "We received roughly 422 films for the festival, which we have short listed to about 180 films." The stupendous numbers had a humble beginning as per Pawar. "We have been organising the Mumbai International Short Film Festival. As it got wrapped up late last year, we were doing research on festivals and found out that the number of women involved in the film industry is lesser," he reveals. Pawar adds that within a month they had begun working on this concept keeping in mind that events like these will encourage more women to join the industry.
The seven-day celebration will feature a Pink Carpet ceremony (instead of a red carpet); launch and conferring of the Fatima Begum award (who happened to be India's first female director); masterclasses by professionals -- Piyush Mishra, Nandita Das, Renuka Shahane, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and others. One can catch screening of films including The Saroj Khan Story, The Playback Singer, and Ceramic Tango among many.
