In the age of downloads, MAMI Film Festival is still a crowd puller

The film lovers of the world should rejoice, when the curtains go up on 17th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival on Thursday evening with the Gateway of India as the perfect backdrop. (Source: Express Photo)

The film lovers of the world should rejoice, when the curtains go up on 17th Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival on Thursday evening with the Gateway of India as the perfect backdrop. Last year, the festival faced an uncertain future when a shortfall of Rs 5 crore almost forced the organisers to call it off. It was saved by hordes of film-lovers who responded to the call for crowd-funding the festival, several industry stalwarts who contributed generously and a strong resolve to host the annual event against all odds.

A new team, spearheaded by Kiran Rao as its chairperson and Anupama Chopra as festival director, took charge at the time of its crisis last year. Its grand opening at Mumbai’s most spectacular venue was the result of the team’s relentless effort and endless planning to make the city’s most-awaited feast of movies a success.

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At a time when technological advancements have changed the movie-viewing habits and made sought-after world cinema titles accessible, the festival — which is organised by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) — is still a crowd-puller. With the organisers opening the Friday and Saturday shows for online tickets in advance, most of the shows are already sold-out. Even in the age of downloads, the charm of film festival is unmatched. On several occasions, a number of filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap, Kiran Rao, Vikramaditya Motwane have spoken about the relevance of such film festivals, which not only showcases that year’s cinematic bests but also puts the spotlight on great masters through retrospectives and special screenings.

Almost all bone fide film-buffs have stories of stationing themselves at the festival venues and indulging in undiluted movie experience to share. Over the years, such platforms have also become a place for debates, discussions and marketing of movies. After all what can beat the experience of watching the world’s best movies on a big screen with a house packed with people passionate about cinema. And film festivals are the only time they come together as a community, devoting their time exclusively to cinema for a stretch of time.