Third Eye Asian Film Festival to be held in Mumbai immediately after MAMI

The 9th Third Eye Asian Film Festival will be held in Mumbai from October 29 to November 4. The opening of this festival is scheduled immediately the day next after MAMI ends. Festival director Sudhir Nandgaonkar said the festival will showcase 80 films and 50 short films from Asian countries will be screened across theatres in south and central Mumbai and in the suburban Andheri.

This year, unlike Manoj Kumar who will be felicitated with the Lifetime Achievement Award at MAMI, acclaimed Bollywood director Shyam Benegal will be felicitated with the Asian Film Culture award. The award honours the achievements of Asian directors, and is given each year to the master of Asian cinema. At the same time six films by Mrinal Sen would be screened this year under the Asian Masters section, mentioned Sudhir Nandgaonkar. The opening film of the festival however is the ‘Son of Babylon’, an Iraqi film which won the Best Movie Award at the Karlovyvary International Film Festival in July this year.

Shyam Benegal

The Asian Film Festival aims to establish interaction between the Asian Film fraternity and create a dialogue with the West. The Festival Program includes the following sections:

Spectrum Asia: Contemporary Asian films will be showcased in this section to capture the cinematic trends in Asian countries.

First / Second Film Competition: The Festival is starting a competition of the first or second film made by an Asian director. An International Jury will award the best film with a trophy and a cash prize of US$ 2,000.

Best Short Film Competition: Many aspiring young directors and film school students in Asia are making digital short fiction films. The 6th Asian Film Festival is organizing a Short Fiction Film Competition. An International Jury will award the best film with a trophy and a cash prize of US$ 1,000.

A retrospective of past award winners: An international spotlight of various award-winning Asian films that got top honors at global film festivals.

Focus on One Asian Country: A package of six to seven films will be screened showcasing the trends in cinema in that country.

Retro: Tributes will be paid to Indian and Asian directors by organizing retrospectives of their films.

Asian Film Culture Award: The award will honor the achievements of Asian directors who remain unknown to general cinema fans in India. The award will be presented to recognize the achievement of the film director in popularizing Asian cinema and artistic achievement in cinematography. The award will be presented to the winner during the Asian Film Festival's opening ceremony.