The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) has secured two major sponsors for this year’s Mumbai Film Festival, providing some much-needed financial security for the October event.

Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL), owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has come on board as title sponsor, while broadcaster STAR India has been signed up as associate sponsor partner.

The festival resorted to crowdfunding last year when Reliance ADA Group, headed by Ambani’s younger brother, Anil Ambani, chose not to renew its sponsorship deal.

Headed by chairperson Kiran Rao and festival director Anupama Chopra, the Mumbai Film Festival will take place this year from October 29 to November 5. The call for entries was launched last month via a promotional film produced by Equinox, Vinod Chopra Films, Dharma Productions and Phantom Films.

In addition to Rao and Chopra, the MAMI board of trustees includes filmmakers Anurag Kashyap, Farhan Akhtar, Karan Johar and Vikramaditya Motwane; actors Riteish Deshmukh and Deepika Padukone; and industry executives Anand Mahindra, PVR’s Ajay Bijli and Disney’s Siddharth Roy Kapur.

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