Dismayed Indian Filmmakers Appeal to Priyanka Chopra Jonas Over Mumbai Film Festival

variety.com:

Naman Ramachandran Fifteen prominent Indian independent filmmakers have issued an open letter to the Mumbai Film Festival, appealing to festival chair Priyanka Chopra Jonas to lay on physical screenings at the canceled – but partially online – event.The letter is signed by several filmmakers whose films premiered at A-list festivals, including Aditya Vikram Sengupta (“Once Upon A Time In Calcutta,” Venice), Gurvinder Singh (“Adh Chanani Raat,” Rotterdam), Irfana Majumdar (“Shankar’s Fairies,” Locarno), Natesh Hegde (“Pedro,” Busan/London), Nithin Lukose (“Paka,” Toronto), Payal Kapadia and Ranabir Das (“A Night of Knowing Nothing,” Cannes) and Rahul Jain (“Invisible Demons,” Cannes).The physical edition of the festival was called off earlier this month, “due to a multitude of challenges brought upon by the continuing pandemic,” per a statement from the festival. “At this point, we do not know when, what form and shape the festival will take in the future,” the statement from the festival, run by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image popularly known as MAMI, added.

The festival released the official selection list and decided to screen some of the films online. Several of the filmmakers were in correspondence with the festival regarding physical screenings.

Now, several filmmakers officially selected in the India Story, Spotlight, and India Gold sections of the festival have expressed disappointment and have appealed for physical screenings. “This [cancellation] news was a great disappointment to us.

Some of us were officially selected in the 2020 edition, and had saved our India premieres for two years, waiting for this festival,” the filmmakers’ letter said. “Others had turned down multiple other festivals in India in.