The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star will take place on October 12-18 across seven prominent venues in Mumbai. The curtain opens with Anurag Kashyap’s film Mukkabaaz (The Brawler).

Over 220 films from 49 countries will be showcased. They include features, documentaries, and short films. The Board of Trustees is a stellar group: Anurag Kashyap, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Rohan Sippy, Ajay Bijli and Kaustubh Dhavse along with MAMI Co-chairperson Kiran Rao, Festival Director Anupama Chopra and Creative Director Smriti Kiran.

Kiran says, “This year our attempt has been to go deeper, to strengthen and consolidate our programming that we have created over the last two years rather than spread ourselves horizontally.” 

As usual, the festival will host filmmakers from around the world. “One of the aims of the festival is to get as many voices from diverse cinema cultures as possible and therefore countries that have had a rare presence at MAMI like Uganda, Kyrgyzstan, Slovenia, Senegal and Iceland have films playing this year,” says Kiran.

Festival Director, Anupama Chopra says, “I strongly believe that good films make us into better people, and I am confident that the festival will bridge gaps between cultures and communities the world over.”