The 21st Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star is set to start soon and we cannot contain our excitement. In their next announcement today, 13 September 2019, they have announced the lineup for the India Gold section with ten films.
As per their website, India Gold presents breakthrough contemporary Indian films produced in India, both in fiction and documentary feature films. And the ten films selected this year are –
Aamis | Ravening
Director: Bhaskar Hazarika
CAST: Lima Das, Arghadeep Baruah
The film is about the relationship between a woman and a younger man. Nirmali, a married paediatrician in her late 30s, leads a peaceful but joyless domestic existence in Guwahati, when she meets Suman, a young PhD student researching food habits in northeastern India and they start to bond over more than food.
The film premiered at the International Narrative Competition at the 18th Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year.
About Love
Director: Archana Atul Phadke
CAST: The Phadke familyThree generations of the Phadke family live and work together in South
Mumbai. As they prepare for a family wedding, director Archana Atul Phadke, who is not in any hurry to marry, observes the shifting, often very funny household dynamics, as both her mother and grandmother wonder how they have tolerated their husbands for so long.
This Marathi and English documentary made its world premiere at Sheff Doc Fest 2019, where it won the New Talent Award.
Bombay Rose
Director: Gitanjali Rao
CAST: Cyli Vivek Khare, Amit Deondi, Gargi Shitole
Bombay Rose is inspired by the romance of Bollywood and told through exquisite hand-painted animation created by award-winning animator Gitanjali Rao. Based on true events, and painted frame by frame and woven delicately through music, a red rose brings together three tales of impossible loves. Love between a Hindu girl and a Muslim boy. Love between two women. Love of an entire city for its Bollywood stars.
The film has had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, is also playing at Toronto Film Festival, and will play at the London Film Festival. Watch the trailer here.
Khanaur | Bitter Chestnut
Director: Gurvinder Singh
CAST: Kishan Katwal, Pawan Kumar, Rani Devi, Gopi Katwal, Bankhri Devi, Monisha Mukundan
This film is an account of Singh’s time in the town of Bir in Himachal Pradesh taking a look at migration and reverse migration in Bir, Barot and Baragraan through the lives of real people. Gurvinder Singh’s Chauthi Koot and Anhe Gorhey Ka Daan premiered at Cannes Film Festival.
The Pahari, English and Hindi language film makes a world premiere at the Busan Film Festival 2019 before playing at Mumbai Film Festival.
Eeb Allay Ooo!
Director: Prateek Vats
CAST: Mahinder Nath, Shardul Bharadwaj
The film is a satire that revolves around a migrant man in the capital New Delhi who is hired to capture stray monkeys in the city’s high-security zone which is home to politicians and senior bureaucrats. The film is a hybrid of reality and fiction, incorporating real characters alongside trained actors, and verite footage with crafted mise – en – scene.
Prateek Vats won the Special Jury Award for his documentary English language film A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings at the 65th National Film Awards. Eeb Allay Ooo! won The Facebook Award from the WIP Lab at NFDC Film Bazaar last year.
Gamak Ghar
Director: Achal Mishra
CAST: Abhinav Jha, Satyendra Jha, Soniya Jha
This Maithili feature film chronicles two decades of a family house. In a north Indian village, a family reunites at their ancestral house to celebrate a new birth in the family. It’s a joyous, carefree occasion. Over the next two decades, through festivals and feasts, births and deaths, the film observes the house age and the relentlessness of passing time straying and fraying familial ties.
This is Achal Mishra’s debut feature film and a world premiere.
Nimtoh | Invitation
Director: Saurav Rai
CAST: Pravesh Gurung, Chandra Dewan, Sunil Rai, Teresa Rai, Digbijay Singh Rai, Tinkle, Ginger
The Nepalese language drama tells the story of a ten-year-old village boy who upsets his grandmother by trying to get invited to a wedding within a wealthy family.
This is a world premiere.
Aise Hee | Just Like That
Director: Kislay
CAST: Mohini Sharma, Harish Khanna, Sadhna Singh
Mrs Sharma is forced to remain a faithful and wise old widow after her husband′s death. But Mrs Sharma has no intention to do so. Will she be successful on her journey of self-discovery to find herself and a new identity?
The film makes a world premiere at the Busan Film Festival 2019 before playing at Mumbai Film Festival.
Pearl of the Desert | Maru Ro Moti
Director: Pushpendra Singh
CAST: Moti Khan Manganiyar, Anwar Khan Manganiyar, Nijre Khan Manganiyar
This is a documentary about the changing religious dynamics among the Manganiyar musicians in India.
The film by the Ashwatthama director is supported by Busan’s Asian Network of Documentary Fund.
This is a world premiere.
That Cloud Never Left
Director: Yashaswini Raghunandan
CAST: Kakoli Das, Chickoo Das, Rakesh Das, Baban Gosh, Babloo Captain
In a village about 200 km from Calcutta, various inhabitants work diligently to produce handmade colourful toys: rattles, flutes and merry-go-rounds. Hundreds are made every day, and the primary material used is old 35mm film reels full of Bollywood titles: films that knew a different life. This hybrid film plays with fact and fiction, shot just before a magical lunar eclipse looms, and shares the narrative of children who go searching for a ruby stone, two brothers build a single-eyed ladder and a mother waiting for monsoon.
The film made its world premiere in competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2019.
The India Story section lineup was announced on 3 September 2019. Last month, they had announced the opening film for the festival, Moothon by Geetu Mohandas. And we are looking forward to the international lineup now.
Mumbai Film Festival 2019 will run from 17 – 24 October 2019. And registrations are now open. Book here.