Mumbai Film Festival to offer 200 films from 58 countries.

The 12th Mumbai Film Festival (October 21-28), a Reliance Big Entertainment initiative, will host an extensive film bazaar in addition to screening 200 films from 58 countries. An all-woman jury will be led by Jane Campion and Oliver Stone will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival.

The adjacent Film Business Centre will be attended by 25 of the top buyers and sales agents from around the world including Pathe, Fortissimo, Studio Canal, Metro, MK2, Visit Films, Icon, IM Global, Match Factory, Pioniwa, Memento Films International, Umedia, Bavaria Films International, Beta Films, Wide Management, YTV and Visual Media Centre.

The Film Business Centre will facilitate dealings and meetings between film professionals and Indian distributors, who will be able to buy foreign films from over 50 foreign producers and sales agents. Amit Khanna, chairman, Reliance Big Entertainment, said, “We also have representatives from Germany, South Africa, Japan, Korea, Iran, Thailand and Indonesia at this marketplace, which we hope will be a harbinger for a centre for buying and selling films. We see this as an opportunity for small, independent filmmakers who may not be able to travel with their films and can avail of the facilities provided, including a screening room.”

Announcing the line up, which includes a package of 44 films from Japan, Chairman of MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Images), Shyam Benegal added, “We have the cream of world cinema like the winners of the Berlin, Venice, Cannes and Locarno film festivals.”

David Fincher’s The Social Network is the Festival’s opening film. Other highlights are Golden Lion winner Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, Golden Bear winner Bal by Semih Kaplanoglu, Xavier Beauvois’s Cannes Grand Prix winner Of Gods and Men, Li Hongqi’s Winter Vacation, Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, Alexei Popogrebsky’s How I Ended This Summer, A Screaming Man by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and Ken Loach’s Route Irish.There will also be the world premiere of Danish film Above the Street Below the Water, directed by Charlotte Sieling.

The competitive festival awards the best international first feature film. The 14 feature films of first time directors in the International Competition will compete for the cash awards of $100,000. Additional awards include the Golden Gateway of India for Best Film trophy and the Silver Gateway of India trophy. The Jury Grand Prize has a purse of $50,000 and the Audience Choice Award has a cash prize of $20,000.

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