20 Films you cannot miss at the 21st Mumbai Film Festival (Part 1)

By Asian Film Festival on October 14, 2019 • ( Leave a comment )

We present a list of twenty films you shouldn’t miss at the 21st Mumbai Film Festival which will take place from October 17th – 24th in Mumbai, India.

About the festival:
The Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star is an inclusive movie feast. We showcase the latest cutting-edge, independent cinema – art house fare alongside genre movies from Bollywood and Hollywood and cult international movies. They offer the best of world cinema to the people of Mumbai and we offer the best of Indian cinema to the world.

The festival is run by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image popularly known as MAMI. Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival With Star is a space where Aamir Khan, Quentin Tarantino, Zhang Yimou and Rajinikanth would all feel equally at home.

Selected Documentaries:

A Boy and Sungreen by Ahn Ju-Young – South Korea | 2018 – 99 minutes
Section: Half Tickets

Bo-hee is a fragile and sensitive boy in a tough world. Hi best friend is Nok-yang (or Sungreen), a seemingly unbreakable girl. When Bo-hee finds out that his supposedly-dead father is alive, he sets out to find him with the help of Nok-yang.

Screenings:
October 20th (Sunday) | Matterden Carnival Cinemas | 1:45 pm (With post-screening discussion)

Trailer:

A Dog and his Man by Siddharth Tripathy – India | 2019 – 84 minutes
Section: India Story

In a region where villagers face large-scale displacement due to coal mining, Shoukie and his dog Kheru spend what might probably be their last night in the village. While the rest of the village was abandoned two years ago, Shoukie remained adamantly, living like a ghost, with his dog and a dogged determination that homes are not for sale. With a final eviction notice from the mining company looming over their heads, Shoukie spends this final night contemplating Kheru’s death, hunger, and nostalgia.

Trailer:

A Thing Of Magic by Nithin Anil – India | 2019 – 100 minutes
Section: India Story

Gundu Kaakka is a struggling harmonium player, who aspires to join a local drama troupe. One day, after watching a 3D movie, he presents a pair of 3D glasses to two sisters – Pradnya and Pratheeksha. He tells them that the glasses have magical powers, visible only to him. They initially refuse to believe him. But an incident occurs shortly after, triggering their curiosity. As the determined sisters try to find out the truth about the glasses, other tiny stories slowly unfold in the little village.

Trailer:

Aamis by Bhaskar Hazarika – India | 2019 – 108 minutes
Section: India Gold

Nirmali, a married pediatrician in her late 30s, leads a peaceful but joyless domestic existence in Guwahati, Assam. One day, she meets Sumon, a young PhD student researching food habits in Northeastern India, who warms up to her in a manner she seems unaccustomed to. Sumon’s work exposes him to the belief that there’s no kind of food that can be considered abnormal, and Nirmali is drawn to this idea. The two quickly discover a shared love for food – specifically, meat. Together, they bond over meals comprising unusual meats on platonic dates, although Sumon longs for physical contact. As Nirmali’s taste buds grow more adventurous, their relationship takes a dark and bizarre turn neither had expected.

Aani Maani by Fahim Irshad – India | 2019 – 94 minutes
Section: India Story

Aani Maani is a game popular among little children in Uttar Pradesh, played by turning around while reciting a popular rhyme. The circling motion is likened to that of the Sufi dervish. When the government announces a ban on beef, and the shutting down of slaughterhouses, it wreaks havoc in the family life of a lower middle class, Muslim kebab seller called Bhutto, and sends his world spinning.

Bitter Tree (Kaajro) by Nitin Bhaskar – India | 2019 – 113 minutes
Section: India Story

Tilgya belongs to an untouchable caste. His ailing wife dies just as his village is celebrating the annual festival of Dussehra, marking the triumph of Lord Rama over Ravana, of good over evil. Debarred from participating in the festival procession, Tilgya is forced to leave the village with his dead wife’s body.

Bombay Rose by Gitanjali Rao – India, UK, France, Qatar | 2019 – 93 minutes
Section: India Gold

Escaping from child marriage, a flower seller living on the streets of Bombay also dances, reluctantly, in a club. She must choose between fending for her family and finding true love. Painted frame by frame and woven delicately through music, a red rose brings together three tales of impossible love. Love between two flower sellers. Love between two women. Love of an entire city for its Bollywood stars. Based on true events, the film explores the ruthlessness of a society where the love and life that reign on the big screen can crush you in its mean streets.

Trailer:

Dithee by Sumitra Bhave – India | 2019 – 89 minutes
Section: Marathi Talkies

Ramji, an ironsmith from a small village, is a devotee of the god Vitthal. For years he has followed the Waarkari tradition of going on a pilgrimage with thousands of other devotees. When his only son drowns in a flooding river, Ramji’s world comes crashing down and he is filled with sorrow and anger at his god.

Screenings:
October 21st (Monday) | PVR ECX, Citi Mall | 4:30 pm (With Q&A)
October 22nd (Tuesday) | PVR ECX, Phoenix MarketCity Mall | 5:00 pm

Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains by Gu Xiaogang – China | 2019 – 154 minutes
Section: World Cinema

One family’s destiny. rhythmed by the course of nature, the changing seasons, the life of a river.

Trailer:

Eeb Allay Ooo! by Prateek Vats – India | 2019 – 98 minutes
Section: India Gold

A young migrant battles hordes of monkeys in the heart of New Delhi as a contractual monkey repeller – a newly created government job to tackle the monkeys who have been further emboldened by the recent ban on the use of captive langurs – their natural enemy.

To see the second part of this article, go here: PART 2 (Soon…)

We also selected 15 Documentaries that you shouldn’t miss, see the article here: DOCS MUMBAI

For more information about the programme please visit the official website of the festival: Mumbai Film Festival