Mumbai international Film festival 2012, for documentaries, shorts and animation films

http://www.filmsdivision.org/miff/images/miff_eye.jpg Mumbai International Film Festival 2012: 101 best documentary and short films to be showcased during MIFF 2012 Prize Money almost doubled. Mumbai : January 25, 2012 The 12th edition of the biennial Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF 2012) will be held at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai from February 3 – 9, 2012. Addressing the curtain raiser press conference in Mumbai today, DG, Films Division and Festival Director Mr. Bankim said every effort has been made to make the MIFF 2012 content rich. He said the festival has been made more competitive and as a result evinced a keen interest from film makers across the world. Festival Highlights Films from around the world 101 Films including 40 international films will be screened during the week long festival. Films from USA, UK, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Romani, Georgia, Russia, Hong Kong, Myanmar and Australia, besides India are in the International competition section. MIFF Jury World renowned film maker John Bradbury of Australia, Japanese animation director/producer Sayoko Kinoshita, Austrian cinematographer and Director Michael Glawogger, Bulgarian film maker Adela Peeva, Irish film maker Stefanie Dinkelbach, acclaimed film maker Kumar Shahni are part of the Indian and International jury. Prize Money almost doubled Beginning this edition of the Film Festival, the award money has been enhanced significantly and the total award money stands at Rs 63.50 lakhs. Unlike 2010, which had a single competition section, MIFF 2012 will have two competition sections – 1. International and 2. Indian. There will be 12 awards in the international section with Golden Conch Award for Best Documentary (upto 40 minutes), Best Documentary (above 40 minutes) Best Fiction and Best Animation film, each with a prize money of Rs 5 lakhs. Similarly, there will be 10 awards in the Indian section with Golden Conch Award for Best Documentary, Best Fiction and Best Animation film. “Best Student Film Award” (instituted by IDPA) which was introduced in MIFF-2010 has been retained in MIFF-2012 to promote student filmmakers in India and the award money has been enhanced from Rs. 25,000 to Rs.1.00 lakh. The best debut film award worth a trophy and Rs 1 lakh is sponsored by the Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari, an undertaking of the Maharashtra Government which supports the MIFF. The prestigious “Dr. V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award” will be given to an Indian documentary film maker for his/her contribution to documentary movement. The award comprises of trophy and Rs.5.00 lakh in cash. Record number of entries From a micro animation of 33 seconds to a 200 minutes documentary, MIFF 2012 received a record 791 entries from all over the world with 37 countries entering the festival. There were 224 entries in the International Section with major participation from Hong Kong, USA, Spain, Israel and Australia. The Indian competition section received 567 entries, with Maharashtra, particularly Mumbai accounting for almost a third of them. Delhi, West Bengal, Tamilnadu, Karnataka ,Assam, and Manipur sent large number of entries. Retrospectives and special packages Apart from Indian and International competitions in documentary, fiction and animation categories, the festival has acclaimed films sourced from India and abroad in special packages and retrospectives. These include the much-admired Eye Candy Animation, films from Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Netherlands and Balkan shorts, best of festivals, films from film schools, world war specials, North East package, PSBT films, Expresion enCorto from Mexico and decades’ cream by FTII. Another attraction is MIFF salute to the all-time greats, Gurudev Ravindranath Tagore and Satyajit Ray, to commemorate their 150th year and centenary respectively. The Homage section includes films of Mani Kaul, MV Krishnaswamy, BD Garga, PB Pendharkar, Zull Velani and Pratap Sharma. Seminar, workshops and Open Forum on various aspects of short film genre will be organized by the Indian Documentary Producers Association (IDPA) during the festival. Also, Master classes by veteran film makers and workshop on animation and Canon D7 camera will be held during MIFF 2012. Beginning its momentous journey in 1990, MIFF has grown in size and stature as one of the premier global events of documentary film movement. With successful 11 editions to its credit, MIFF is considered on par with acclaimed international film festivals like Leipzig, Berlin, Oberhausen, Cracow, Yamagata and Tampere.