The 13th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for Documentary, Short and Animation Films will be held at the National Centre for Performing Arts in that city from February 3 to 9 next. It is being organised by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Addressing presspersons at the venue of the ongoing 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), V.S. Kundu, Director-General, Films Division and Director, MIFF-2014, said the MIFF intended to attract more and more producers as well as finance providers to promote a documentary culture. MIFF-2014 received 793 entries from 34 countries. Of these, 588 are for the National Section and 205 for the International Section.
The oldest and largest international film festival for non-feature and animation films in Asia, MIFF-2014 brings a lot of valuable content for filmmakers and cineastes. Apart from the honour for the best director, awards have been introduced for the best producer, cinematographer, editor, sound recordist and animator. Awards for the most innovative film (named after Pramod Pati) and the most popular film of the festival have also been instituted.
Shantaram award for Indian
A veteran Indian documentary filmmaker will be honoured with the V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award. The MIFF will distribute Rs. 55 lakh cash awards, apart from Golden Conches, trophies and certificates to winners in different categories.
Besides hosting the internationally acclaimed pitching forum, ‘Good Pitch Squared’ partnered by BRITDOCS and the Sundance Institute Documentary Program, the MIFF will partner with Cinekids, Amsterdam, and Lennep Media to hold a ‘Dutch Children’s film festival-cum-students film workshop’ and with Action Aid India for a film festival on ‘Our City: Ourselves’ in the suburbs, in the run-up to the MIFF.
The Festival Directorate has decided to hold parallel screenings of national competition films in Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chandigarh from February 3 to 9. The festival would have “funders’ talk”, ‘docwok’, panel discussions, “directors’ adda”, retrospectives, homage, curated film packages including animation, a seminar, workshops and master classes to make MIFF-2014 a rich and wholesome experience to filmmakers, students and cinephiles, said Mr. Kundu.
A tribute would be paid to acclaimed Canadian documentary filmmaker Peter Wintonick, who passed away on November 18, with a screening of his selected works.
Films Division Zone for Goa, Bangalore
Mr. Kundu said the Films Division was in talks with the Cinephile Film Society of Goa to set up a Films Division Zone in Goa on the lines the ones in Mumbai and Chennai. Such zones would soon be set up in Bangalore and Jaipur as well.
