#MeToo at Mami
Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Tabu attended opening of Mumbai Film Fest
Under the open sky, the 20th Jio Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (Mami) Mumbai Film Festival started on Thursday night on an emotional note in solidarity with the #MeToo movement.
With #MeToo gaining momentum, festival director Anupama Chopra called it a ‘profound collective reckoning’ saying: “We are starting the festival with conflicted emotions, in solidarity with the #MeToo movement. We decided to exclude certain films from the festival.”
Hosted by actress Kalki Koechlin, the ceremony saw several Bollywood celebrities in attendance including Aamir Khan, Tabu, Karan Johar, Anil Kapoor, Zoya Akhtar, Radhika Apte, Soha Ali Khan and Kiran Rao, among others.
Being the jury member of the Dimensions Mumbai, filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani said: “I think it is a great initiative to have a section where filmmakers under 25 (years old) get a chance to showcase their work on big screen. The joy of watching it on the big screen was stunning.”
The festival honoured the iconic filmmaker Shyam Benegal with the Excellence In Cinema Award.
Bollywood actor Khan, along with veteran actress Jaya Bachchan, gave away the award to Benegal.
This year, a book has been published that captured the detailed journey of the festival for the last 20 years, authored by Sucheta Chakraborty and Ruklina Bose.
The film festival will continue till November 1.