The week-long celebration of film, entertainment and culture came to an end here as the Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival wrapped up with a prize distribution ceremony.

Graced by Amrita Fadnavis, wife of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the audience experienced a beautiful evening on Thursday that not only awarded deserving filmmakers but also the authors of film literature.

It was a star studded evening with many personalities from the film fraternity present including Vinod Chopra, Raju Hirani, Richa Chadda, Ayan Mukherjee, Kunal Kapoor, Abhay Deol, Kabir Khan, Vishal Bhardwaj, Sonam Kapoor, Zoya Akhtar among others.

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As lyricist Kausar Munir mentioned that film writing is a genre of literature that has not been considered as a part of mainstream literature, this time the festival opened the door for books in English, Hindi and other language to encourage more authors.

While “Naya Dur Ka Naya Cinema” by Priyadarshan got the best book award in Hindi, Mekhala Sengupta’s book “Kanan Devi, The First Superstar of Indian Cinema” won the best book in English category.

Keeping the importance of film history and literature in mind, the festival awarded film writer Anil Bhargav (Hindi) and Jay Arjun Singh (English) as Excellence in Best Writing category for their book “Bhartiya Cinemas Ki Itihaas” and “The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee: The Filmmaker Everyone Loves”, respectively.

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Actress Sonam Kapoor said, “Being a voracious reader, I believe that a good story is a key element of many things. Our Bollywood films are changing and now we celebrate content more. Even my film Aisha was based on a book.”

“Most of my favourite films like ‘The Godfather’, ‘Gone with The Wind’ is based on books. So I support and really appreciate the initiative by Jio MAMI,” she added.

This year the festival turned out to be very special for Konkona Sen Sharma. As she made her debut this year as a filmmaker with “The Death Of Gunj”, she won the best Indian Female Director Award.

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On the other hand, “Lipstick Under My Burkha” won the Best Film on Gender Equality Award and Konkona received the award on the behalf of the team.

The much anticipated independent film /short films category turned out to be very promising this year with some brilliant pieces of cinematic work.

While “Mumbai’s Mahuva” by Santosh Amble won the Golden Gateway on Dimensions Mumbai category, “The Saleman” won the Audience Choice Award.

“Lady Of The Lake” by Haobam Paban Kumar won the Golden Gateway from India Gold category, whereas in international competition section young French filmmaker Davy Chou won the Golden Gateway for his film “Diamond Island”.

Kiran Rao, the chairperson of Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival closed the ceremony with a vote of thanks to all the sponsors and teammates declaring the date of next year’s festival to be between November 12 to 19, 2017.

IANS

Karan Johar on Thursday at a press conference of 18th MAMI film festival announced an award for female filmmakers to encourage more gender equality in Indian cinema.
Karan Johar said, “We are also thrilled to announce a special award this year called the MAMI MasterCard Best Indian Female Filmmaker 2016 award. This award for Rs 15 lakh is also for Indian films only. This award aims to strengthen the female voice in Indian cinema.”

“Over the last five years, we’ve made some progress here but it’s much too little. The representation of both genders onscreen can only benefit with the inclusion of more female voices. This award is a step toward that.”

Over 180 films from 54 countries, including features, documentaries, short films to be showcased at the festival. The Film Festival will honour director and screenwriter Sai Paranjpye and acclaimed filmmaker, Jia Zhangke with Excellence in Cinema Award.

Filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj said, “Our Indian Excellence in Cinema award goes to filmmaker Sai Paranjpye. Sai Paranjpye’s career has spanned over four decades. Her films are milestones in Indian cinema. Sai’s cinema is defined by certain humanity.

“Her films didn’t have oversized heroes and villains. She told slice of life stories about common people. Her work continues to inspire generations of filmmakers.”

The 18th JIO MAMI Film Festival which was unveiled on Thursday in a press conference witnessed actor Kangana Ranaut along with the Board of Trustees – Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar, Rohan Sippy, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Manish Mundra, Vishal Bhardwaj and Dibakar Banerjee with Star Co-chairperson, Kiran Rao and Festival Director Anupama Chopra.

Festival Co-Chairperson, Kiran Rao said, “It’s been a very exciting year for the Academy. Firstly, we are now a year around presence. We launched the MAMI Film Club in May with a conversation between Sir Ian McKellen and Aamir. We have followed that up with India premieres of films such as Brahman Naman and India in a Day. The Academy is committed to bringing you great film content and conversations not just in October but through the year.”

The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star is less than a month away from offering the city a movie extravaganza unlike any other. The festival is set to kick off on 20th October.

IANS