Press Kit 2016 Our Vision
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PRESS KIT 2016 OUR VISION You don’t come to Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival with Star to see a film, you come to experience it! The Jio MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival with Star is an inclusive movie feast. We showcase the latest cutting-edge, independent cinema – art house fare alongside genre movies from Bollywood, Hollywood and cult international movies. We offer the best of world cinema to the people of Mumbai and we offer the best of Indian cinema to the world. The Festival is run by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image popularly known as MAMI. Jio MAMI with Star is a space where Aamir Khan, Quentin Tarantino, Zhang Yimou and Rajinikanth would all feel equally at home. This is a space where we revel in the sheer pleasure of cinema, the joy it gives us and how much it enhances our lives. The goal is to nurture and ignite a passion for movies. Jio MAMI with Star is also about helping independent filmmakers gain the credibility and publicity they justly deserve. The festival provides a forum for talented filmmakers to be recognized for their work, creativity, and achievements. We want Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star to be shorthand for excellence in cinema. BRAND IDENTITY: FISHING FOR TALENT For a city with strong roots in cinema, we envisioned for MAMI an identity that would be both inclusive and Indian. The new identity needed to represent the wide array of styles, events and people who are associated with it, as well as the city that it calls home. The new logo, “Fishing for Talent,” perfectly encapsulates that. Mumbai is a collection of islands, communities, hopes and dreams. Whatever our differences, we put them aside for the movies. MAMI is always looking for fresh talent and in that sense, we are ‘fishing for talent.’ The two fish creates a geometric pattern that forms the Devanagari representation of MAMI in Hindi. The use of the Devanagari script sets us apart from other international film festivals, and the simple geometric forms combined with the use of yellow make it friendly, approachable, but most of all, Indian. An identity we can all rally behind and one we instantly relate to as a representation of Mumbai. JIO MAMI WITH STAR: FILM CLUB YEAR ROUND The Jio MAMI Film Club with Star was launched in May with a conversation between Sir Ian McKellen and Amir Khan. We followed that up with Indian premiers of films such as Brahman Naman and Google’s India in a Day. MAMI is committed to bring in great film content and conversations through the year. The MAMI FILM CLUB conducts year round events which include film screenings, Master classes, Film Appreciation Workshops, Knowledge Bootcamps, Digital Knowledge Series and Special Film Programmes for Children and Young Adults. EXCELLENCE IN CINEMA AWARDS The Festival, every year, identifies and awards the contribution of great artists in the world of cinema. The ‘Excellence in Cinema Award’ provides a great opportunity to highlight, applaud and promote works of such individuals. Jio MAMI with Star, in its 18th edition will honor achievements of two such film makers who have created memorable films over the years. SAI PARANJPYE Sai Paranjpye is a prominent screenwriter and director who has been working in India cinema for the last four decades. Sai Paranjpye made a trendsetting impact. Moving from writing to theatre, television to films, Sai Paranjpye has straddled many mediums. Her children’s stories have fascinated young audiences, her TV serials have become household names and her films have been feted in India and abroad. She has won numerous awards, both National and International for her writing and films. She was conferred with the prestigious Padma Bhushan in 2006. She has served on numerous juries and has been the Chairperson of the Children’s Film Society of India. She graduated from the National School of Drama and her first job was with AIR, Pune as an announcer, from where she quickly moved to Children’s programming. Over the years, she has written and directed plays in Marathi, Hindi, and English, both for adults and children. Her first feature film “Sparsh” was released in 1980 and went on to win five National Awards. Other films include Chashme Buddoor, Katha, Angootha Chaap, Disha, Papeeha, Saaz and Chakachak. Her TV serials include Ados Pados and Chote Bade. Her Marathi plays include Jaswandi, Sakkhe Shejari, and Albel. Known for a trademark sense of humor, all her work has dealt with contemporary themes. JIA ZHANGKE A pre-eminent figure among the Sixth Generation of Chinese film makers, Zhangke’s primary focus has been on a cinematic representation of his country’s post-Mao and post-globalization cultural history. His highly distinctive style --- a mix of long-shot, single-take compositions, landscape tableaux, direct sound and blaring pop music --- combined with a humane concern for the working-class and poorer sections of society have elevated Zhangke into a significant and politically astute chronicler of modern-day China. From his first two narrative features (Pickpocket, 1997; Platform, 2000) through to one of his docu-fiction hybrids (24 City, 2008) and up to his most recent films (A Touch of Sin, 2013; Mountains May Depart, 2015), Zhangke has offered a unique perspective on a transitional generation whose commonplace lives evoke universal resonance. JURIES INDIA GOLD REHA ERDEM HEAD OF JURY Born in Istanbul, Reha Erdem graduated from the Cinema Department of Paris 8 University. He obtained his M.A. in Plastic Arts at the same University. He made his first feature-length film, Oh Moon in 1989, as a French-Turkish co- production. He made Run for Money in 1999, Mommy, I’m Scared in 2004, Times and Winds in 2006, My Only Sunshine, Turkish-Greek-Bulgarian co-produc- tion, in 2008, Kosmos in 2009, Jin in 2012 and Singing Women (2013) are Turkish-French- German co-productions. His latest film, Big Big World (2016) has won the Special Jury Prize in the Orizzonti Section of the Venice Film Festival. MYCHAEL DANNA Mychael Danna is an Academy Award-winning Film Composer recognized for his evocative blending of non-western traditions with orchestral and electronic music. He won the 2013 Oscar and Golden Globe for his score for Ang Lee’s Life of Pi and has composed many award-winning scores for his longtime collaborator, Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, 1997 ; Exotica, 1994). His other noted credits include films such as Monsoon Wedding (2001), Antwone Fisher (2002), Being Julia (2004), Capote (2005), Water (2005), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Surf’s Up (2007), 500 Days of Summer (2008), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), Moneyball (2011), Sanjay’s Super Team (2015) and The Good Dinosaur (2015). Danna's recent films include Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (2016) and Storks (2016). YONFAN Yonfan started out as a renowned photographer and was noted for his celebrity portraits, before he made the transition to filmmaking. He began making films in the late ‘80s and till date has directed thirteen films including A Certain Romance (1984), Story of Rose (1985), Bugis Street (1995), Bishonen (1998), Peony Pavilion (2001) and Prince of Tears (2009). He has also been on the juries of the film festivals at Busan and Sydney. STEPHANIE ZACHAREK Stephanie Zacharek is the film critic for Time Magazine. She has previously worked with Boston Phoenix and was the chief film critic for Salon.com and the Village Voice. A graduate of Syracuse University, New York, Zacharek’s writings on books and and pop culture have also appeared in the New York Times, New York Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone and Sight and Sound. In 2010, as a part of the Berlinale Talent Campus, Zacharek participated on the panel ‘Fear Eats the Soul: The State of Film Criticism’. She is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics and was a finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Criticism. TOMASZ WASILEWSKI Tomasz Wasilewski is a Polish film director and screenwriter. His 2016 film United States of Love was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival where he won the Silver Bear for Best Script. He is considered one of the most interesting voice in the young Polish directing scene and his cinema is characterized by a minimalistic style featuring psychological portraits created with precision and sensitiveness. INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION MIGUEL GOMES HEAD OF JURY Miguel Gomes studied cinema at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School. He worked as a film critic from 1996 to 2000. Subsequently, he directed several short films including the Oberhausen Short Film Festival winner Meanwhile (1999) before directing features such as The Face You Deserve (2004), Our Beloved Month Of August (2008), the Berlin FIPRESCI prize winner Tabu (2012) and Arabian Nights, a three-part feature film that premiered in the Directors Fortnight at Cannes in 2015. TALA HADID Tala Hadid made her first docufeature, Sacred Poet on Pier Paolo Pasolini. Her films have screened at film festivals around the world, including Berlin and Venice and shown, among other venues, at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Lincoln Center in New York, The Walker Arts Center, La Cinémathèque Française in Paris and the Photog- rapher’s Gallery in London. Her films have received numerous awards, including a Student Academy Award in 2005 for Tes Cheveux Noirs Ihsan. In 2015, Hadid's latest project, House in the Fields, was selected to screen as a work-in-progress at the 72nd Venice Film Festival, where it was awarded two prizes. ANURAG KASHYAP Anurag Kashyap is an Indian film writer, director, producer.