The six-day MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 features Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light, Sean Baker's Anora, and over 110 films from more than 45 countries. Here's what to watch out for!
MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 is back to showcase an impressive lineup of films from around the globe while focusing on emerging cinematic voices, particularly from South Asia. The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) organised the six-day festival from October 19 to 24, screening over 110 films from 45+ countries in 50+ languages. The diverse selection includes fiction, documentaries, and animated features, with many making their world, South Asian, or Indian premieres at venues like Regal Cinema, Colaba and five screens at PVR, Juhu.
A key highlight of the festival is building on the success of last year’s inaugural South Asia Competition, where the Main Competition features 11 films—seven from South Asia and its diaspora and four from India, with a notable five female directors. The lineup includes Sandhya Suri’s Santosh from the UK and Min Bahadur Bham’s Shambhala from Nepal, both official Oscar submissions for their countries. The festival starts with Payal Kapadia's Cannes Grand Prix-winning All We Imagine As Light and closes with Sean Baker's Palme d’Or-winning Anora, further cementing MAMI’s reputation as a platform for groundbreaking global cinema. Other festival sections include World Cinema, Focus South Asia, Restored Classics, Gala Premieres, and masterclasses and industry programs to nurture the next generation of filmmakers.
Even though every film looks as inviting as the other, here is a list of what you shouldn't miss out on!
South Asia Competition
Girls Will Be Girls
A film by Shuchi Talati has already been the talk of the town since its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, this is one of the most anticipated films in the festival, showcasing the story of teenage rebellion and female sexual awakening through the journey of 16-year-old Mira at a strict Himalayan boarding school and her secret relationship with Sri.
Santosh
After having a tremendous run at film festivals worldwide, including Cannes, Sandhya Suri's film is finally premiering here. It is about a newly widowed Santosh who inherits her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of northern India as part of a government scheme and investigates the rape and murder of a young Dalit girl under the tutelage of charismatic Inspector Sharma.
The Fable
A Raam Reddy film, the filmmaker who is returning to the festival after nine whole years and stars Manoj Bajpyee in the lead, is set in a small sacred place in the Himalayas in the 1980s where sudden and weird happenings lead Dev to an investigation that unearths some personal reckonings. Shot on the 16mm, the film is said to be a realist piece of work!
Village Rockstars 2
A fifth feature film by Rima Das, Village Rockstars explores the land and locales of Assam once more only to capture them in the same place that her camera had left behind in 2017–18. The film finds the same individuals, roads, fields, and houses transformed by new desires, aspirations, collectives, and repurposed memories.
Pooja, Sir
Deepak Rauniyar's third feature film, Pooja, Sir is a police procedural and social thriller that's set during the 2015 Nepalese protests and follows Pooja, the country's first female detective, to team up with a local policewoman Mamata, as they investigate a kidnapping amidst political unrest only to confront systemic corruption, colourism, and misogyny.
Special Mention: Nocturnes, Shambhala
Focus On South Asia
The Shameless
Konstantin Bojanov’s Cannes-acclaimed film, with Anasuya Sengupta’s award-winning performance, delves into the fractured Muslim identity and rising religious intolerance in India with the story of Renuka, who gets involved in an illicit romance with a young sex worker, Devika, after stabbing a policeman and escaping a Delhi brothel.
The Real Superstar
The film by Cédric Dupire is an experimental found-footage film that reappropriates scenes from Amitabh Bachchan’s career to create a unique portrait of India’s most prominent icon. Depicting him as a hero with many faces—schizophrenic messiah, demigod, and voice of the people—the film explores Bachchan’s complex societal roles, blending dreamlike and poetic imagery.
Bunnyhood
A nine-minute film by Mansi Maheshwari, Bunnyhood is another film that made its name in Cannes. It's an animation film about a young girl, Bobby, whose deep affection and unbreakable bond with her mother transform as a routine choke-up in the hospital and uncovers a disturbing deception caused by her mother.
In Retreat
A film by Maisam Ali that got a badge of honour aka 'Cannes-acclaimed', In Retreat is a haunting exploration of darkness. It follows a man in his 50s returning to his hometown after missing his brother’s funeral. The film challenges traditional notions of beauty by focusing on shadows rather than scenic mountain views.
The Sharp Edge of Peace
A film by Roya Sadat, this one follows four brave women on Afghanistan’s negotiating team as they risk their lives to seek peace with men who have historically oppressed them. The film shifts focus from public displays to the behind-the-scenes work where real diplomacy happens. It offers a rare, nuanced view of Afghan women’s lives, presenting their struggle as a gripping thriller with lives on the line and peace as the ultimate goal.
Special Mention: Holy Curse, Marching in the Dark, Free as a Bird, Monsoon Walk, Tracker, Boong
Short Films
Apart from the great selection of 12 films of 5 minutes each featured across the section of Dimensions Mumbai, where budding filmmakers between the ages of 18 and 25 showcase their creative side, focusing on stories placed in the film and the dream city of Mumbai, there is a great line-up of Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films.
The Promise
A 11-minute film by Tigmashu Dhulia starring Jim Sarbh, this one focuses on telling the tale of a former bartender, George Batra, who is waiting for his fateful reunion with his lost love whom he parted ways with two decades ago when he made a promise to meet her again at the bar where they first met.
Leela
A 15-minute film by Tanmay Chowdhary, Leela is set in a coastal Indian town where two young women discuss the mysterious disappearance of their acquaintance, Leela, amid rumours of her death or escape to the city. As they speculate, the dynamics of their own relationship in the stagnant town come to light.
Aloo Bhujia
An 11-minute film by Lakshmi R. Iyer, this one follows Sanjay, a 36-year-old man, as he bonds with a younger man in a bar over shared frustrations with their mothers. As they talk, Sanjay reflects on the small, once-irritating details of his mother's life that now bring him comfort. When the young man reconnects with his mother, Sanjay is reminded of his own, highlighting the parallels in their lives.
A Flight of the Lost Dreamy Bird
A 13-minute film by Chaman Ramesh Kishan, this one is set in the 1990s. A young man revisits his North Indian village, reflecting on childhood memories and a conversation with his mother. He realizes how the once-quiet village is slowly evolving, mirroring the effects of urbanization.
Lice
This is a 13-minute film by Vindhya Gupta that follows Roshni, who hides a lice infestation and befriends Chakor, the class outcast, to keep her secret safe. As their friendship deepens, guilt over her deception grows, forcing Roshni to confront her fear of exposure and the true meaning of trust and acceptance.
Special Mention: The Fishes, Ballad of the Mountain, Coming Back to Life, The Usher
World Cinema
Apart from the usual craze for anticipated titles that received appreciation during their premieres at the Cannes Film Festival like A Different Man, The Substance, Emilia Perez, Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, Rumours, Viet and Nam, Armand, An Unfinished Film, The Wolves Always Come At Night, and many more, there's a lot more content from the world over that made their premiers at different film festivals and could definitely end up on your list like The Room Next Door, The Remarkable Life of Ilbein, A Traveler's Need, Cloud, An Urban Glory, April, Diciannove, Kneecap, Dying, Russian at War, Sex and Love.
Apart from the special screening of Arth, you can also enjoy restored classics like Burden of Dreams, The Mirage, The Ritual and Camp De Thiaroye. There's also a line-up of Gala Premieres that features a selection of Indian films with famous names in their ensemble cast. For instance, Tigmanshu Dhulia's Ghamasaan, Kanu Bahl's Desptach, Sonal Dabral's Go Noni Go, Suman Ghosh's The Ancient and My Melbourne, an anthology film of four short films by Imtiaz Ali, Kabir Khan, Onir, and Rima Das.
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