Tony Tharakan
In a major victory forvotaries of free expression, films selected for theMumbai International Film festival will no longer haveto produce a censor certificate to be eligible for thebiennial event. "The film festival has done away with thecriterion of having a Censor Board certificate forsubmitting entries," Festival Director Raghu Krishna told reporters here today.
Last year's edition of MIFF had been mired incontroversy after several filmmakers withdrew theirsubmissions from the festival and held a parallel filmfestival titled 'Vikalp'. The 2006 Mumbai International Film Festival willkick off on February 3 and is the ninth in the seriessince its inception in 1990.
Organised by the Films Division of the Ministryof Information and Broadcasting, the festivalshowcases documentaries, short films and animationfilms from around the world. "We are attempting to show films which are notshown anywhere. This year, there are 186 entries inthe international category and 388 submissions in thenational competition," Krishna said.
Outstanding films in various categories areselected by an International Jury for Golden andSilver Conches with cash prizes aggregating to Rs 27.5lakh. "This year, the panel for the internationalsection includes filmmakers Lisa Goldwin, Sato Makoto,Lasse Noukharinen and John Akomfrah. An Indianfilmmaker will also be part of this jury," Krishna said.
"Filmmakers Gautam Bora, K Hariharan and ManjiriDutta will be judging the national competition," headded. A veteran documentary filmmaker will be conferredthe V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award during thefestival.
MIFF 2006 will include retrospectives on filmsfrom the SAARC nations, Iran, Germany as also specialscreenings of Oscar winners and nominees. A collection of films on various dance forms will also be showcased at the festival.
According to Krishna, the festival aims to serveas a platform where the filmmakers can meet, exchangeideas, explore the possibility of co-production andmarket their films.
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