68 films in competition for Golden Conch & Silver Conch Awards

The inaugural ceremony at NCPA witnessed a congregation of documentary and short film makers from India and abroad. Veteran film maker, Goutam Ghose, who has also produced significant documentary films was the chief guest. Kiran Shantaram, Mrinal Kulkarni, Mike Pandey were among other dignitaries present. Commending the efforts made by MIFF in providing a platform for the documentary film makers, Goutam Ghose said that MIFF is certainly a pride of India. He congratulated Films Division and Ministry of Information and broadcasting for organising MIFF consistently with great enthusiasm.

The ceremony also saw the customary introduction of the International and National Jury. The International Jury for MIFF 2018 comprises Canadian filmmaker Elisa Paloschi (Chairperson), French documentary maker Dominique Dubosc, filmmaker and academic from the Philippines – Baby Ruth Villarama, noted Indian filmmaker Haobam Paban Kumar and animation expert Ashish Kulkarni. The National Jury, chaired by film critic and author Maithili Rao, has Turkish animator Berat Ilk, French author and film producer Pierre Assouline, National Award winning filmmakers M P Sukumaran Nair and Arun Chaddha as other members.

The opening ceremony also saw a scintillating dance performance by the ‘India’s Got Talent’ find Prince Dance Group from Odisha.

The week long film festival will showcase nearly 430 documentary, short and animation films from over 40 countries. The oldest and the largest film festival for non-feature films in South Asia, which began in 1990 is being organized by the Films Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India.

Besides the contemporary films vying for top honours in the International and National Competition for Golden Conch and Silver Conch awards, MIFF will showcase best documentary short and animation films produced in India and abroad under special packages including Jury retrospectives and Best of Fests.

Film maker Shri. Goutam Ghose

The Animation Package includes films of Ivan Maximov of Russia, Baret Ilk of Turkey and Lea Zagury of Brazil. A special package of French Shorts and Experimental films curated by Gabriele Brennen of the 3iS International Institute for Image and Sound, Paris will be screened on 29th. The Best of the Fests package includes films sourced from top documentary film festivals like Berlinale, HotDocs, Canada, Melbourne Documentary Festival and Guanajuato Film Festival, Mexico. A retrospective of veteran Iranian film maker – Rakshan Benietemad, will include 3 documentaries from 3 decades. Other retrospectives will cover works of French film maker Dominic Dubosc, Mudhushree Dutta and noted animator Bhimsain Khurana. There are also special film packages from the North East and Jammu & Kashmir.

Another important feature of MIFF 2018 is students’ participation. Student films of FTII, Satyajit Ray Film & TV Institute, Whistling Woods, MGR Film & TV Institute, Prayasam, State University of Rohtak, National Institute of Design will be screened during the festival.

To add flavour and substance to the festival, workshops, master classes, lecture-demonstrations and panel discussions on topics of interest will take place during MIFF 2018. Nandan Saxena will be conducting a 4 day workshop on ‘Non-fiction cinematography’. Anand Gnadhi’s team will give a glimpse of new Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Technology.

The screenings will be held in the theatres in Films Division complex, 24-Pedder Road, Mumbai and nearby Russian Culture Centre from January 29, 2017.

For media / delegate registrations visit www.miff.in