Ending days of uncertainty, the annual Mumbai Film Festival will be held as scheduled between October 14 and October 21, the festival’s organisers have said.
A fund-raising campaign on social media helped the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), the festival organisers, overcome a crippling financial crisis after their contract with Reliance Entertainment, the sole sponsor for the past five years, expired in February. “Since then, we were searching for the new sponsor. But we were unsuccessful,” said festival director Srinivasan Narayan.
The social media campaign helped the organisers raise Rs 1.5 crore in just two days. They are now expecting Rs. 5 crore by October.
The uncertainty over the festival’s future triggered a social media campaign, #pledge4MAMI from well-wishers. “As the word spread, the entire film fraternity came forward and now the industry itself is taking care of the festival. We are getting commitments from many individuals and we have also opened our website of the contributions from ordinary fans,” Mr. Narayan said.
Cinestaan Film Company, promoted by Anand Mahindra and Rohit Khattar, has committed Rs. 60 lakh to the festival. “The festival has become an integral part of our cinema heritage and as an industry, we need to come together to raise it to new heights and nurture it together,” said Mr. Khattar.
Producer-directors Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani, producers Manish Mundra, Vivek Kajaria and Nilesh Navlakha, director Hansal Mehta and noted author and critic Anupama Chopra too have pledged their support.
