The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival is set to return from October 27 for 10 days of a loaded line-up of films from across the world to treat the cinephiles.

It will feature 250 films from October 27 to November 5.

Farhan Akhtar, Rana Daggubati, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Vikramaditya Motwane, Zoya Akhtar, Rohan Sippy, Ajay Bijli and Anupama Chopra unveiled line-up whhich includes over 40 World Premieres, 45 Asia Premieres, and 70+ South Asia Premieres.

This time, the festival received over 1000 submissions for the South Asia programme.

The festival promises to spotlight contemporary films and new cinematic voices from South Asia. The main competition at the festival this year is the South Asia Competition, IANS reported from Mumbai.

This competitive section aims to showcase breakthrough contemporary South Asian films, will see 14 films from debutant and second-time filmmakers from across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal, as well as diaspora filmmakers from the UK and Germany. South Asian films are also part of a non-competition section that has 46 films (22 features + 24 non-features).

It includes works from Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Nepal, as well as diaspora perspectives from Australia, Germany, the USA, the UK, Poland, and Spain.

Artistic Director, Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, Deepti DCunha said, “We are very proud that we have managed to achieve such a diverse curation in our South Asia section within the first year of us expanding our vision to be a festival that is focused on building an ecosystem for new cinematic voices from South Asia and the South Asian Diaspora. This commitment extends beyond film screenings, aiming to facilitate the exchange of ideas, collaborations, and business opportunities while bringing the best of world cinema to Mumbai.”

The World Cinema section of the festival will showcase more than 90 titles from over 35 countries. The selection comprises some of the most talked-about films from this year’s festival circuit; such as Palme d’Or winner ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ by Justine Triet, Bradley Cooper’s Oscar-tipped ‘Maestro’ and ‘Beyond Utopia’ by Madeleine Gavin that won the Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival.

Additional titles include ‘The Daughters of Fire’ by Pedro Costa, ‘Monster’ by Hirokazu Kore-eda, ‘In Our Day’ by Hong Sang-soo, ‘Strange Way of Life’ by Pedro Almodóvar, ‘The Old Oak’ by Ken Loach, ‘Fallen Leaves’ by Aki Kaurismaki and ‘La Chimera’ by Alice Rohrwacher.

The festival will include sections such as South Asia Competition, Focus South Asia (Non- Non-Competition), Icons South Asia, Gala Premier South Asia, Marathi Talkies, Dimensions Mumbai, World Cinema, After Dark, Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films, Restored Classics, MAMI Tribute, Retrospective: paying homage to great film personalities for their lifetime achievements, and Recap.

Highlights included ‘The Rapist’ by Aparna Sen, ‘Dostojee’ by Prasun Chatterjee and ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing’ by Payal Kapadia.

Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival will take place from Friday, October 27 to Sunday, November 5, 2023, in Mumbai, India.