385 films to be screened at MIFF

The 14th edition of Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation formats kicked off on Thursday in the presence of CM Devendra Fadnavis and MoS for information and broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

The week-long festival will see a total 385 films screened across three different formats with 30 of them contending for the International Competition section and 27 in the National Competition section.

Also in attendance at the ceremony were popular actor Jackie Shroff and veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who were the Brand Ambassador and Guest of Honour respectively. During the event, veteran wildlife filmmaker Naresh Bedi was presented with the Dr. V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the world of documentary filmmaking.

Inaugurating the festival, CM Fadnavis called for more efforts in propagating the documentary film format and said, “We are so engrossed in entertainment-oriented films that we don’t realise that the world is much beyond what they portray.”

Veteram filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who was the Guest of Honour at the event called for efforts to vitalise the industry”