Bulbul Can Sing, Mehsampur and Manta Ray win big at MAMI 

Assamese director Rima Das’ second feature film, Bulbul Can Sing, won the prestigious Golden Gateway Award, (India Gold category) at the recently concluded MAMI Mumbai Film Festival on Thursday. Her debut feature film, Village Rockstars, was earlier selected as India’s entry to the 91st Academy Awards. 

The Silver Gateway, India Gold was shared by Ridham Janve’s The Gold-Laden Sheep and The Sacred Mountain and Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s Jonaki. Kabir Singh Choudhry’s meta-fiction film, Mehsampur, won the Grand Jury Prize for the India Gold section. 

In the international category, the Golden Gateway award was presented to Manta Ray, the directorial debut of Thai filmmaker Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, and The Silver Gateway was awarded to the Paraguanyan drama, Heiresses. The International Grand Jury Prize was won by Gabrielle Brady’s The Island of Hungry Ghosts.

Overwhelmed with the honour, Rima Das said, “I am overjoyed to receive this award. For me, making movies is a very fascinating experience. It gives me an opportunity to tell untold stories, stories of women, stories of real people. I feel blessed that I can live so many experiences and emotions through my characters."

American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, who was in Mumbai to deliver his MAMI masterclass, was honoured with the Excellence in Cinema award by filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj. "I have been to Mumbai a few times and I love the city because it is insane. It's more insane than New York. (It has) incredible people and food. More important, it is a great fountain of movies. I am thankful for this honour. I am very happy that my films are watched here," Aronofsky said. 

Karan Asnani's Sheher Ya Tum won the Golden Gateway in the Dimensions Mumbai category. The Silver Gateway went to Yadav Ji directed by Nishtha Sadwelkar. The special award for Discovering India went to Lovesick, a documentary on Dr Suniti Solomon, who discovered India's first case of HIV in 1986 and pioneered AIDS research and prevention in India. 

The Oxfam Award for best film on gender equality was won by Ivan Ayar's Soni, about two Delhi policewomen grappling with rising sexual violence in the national capital. Sivaranjani and Two Other Women and Jonaki won the Oxfam special jury mention for gender equality. The award for the Best Large Short Film went to NewYear's Eve by Pranav Bhasin, while the Young Critics choice award went to Aadish Keluskar’s Jaaon Kahan Bata Ae Dil. 

The 20th MAMI Mumbai Film Festival was held between October 26 to November 1. The next edition of the festival will take place from October 17 to October 24 in 2019.