MUMBAI: The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) will present its eighth International Film Festival from March 23. It was almost called off owing to shortage of funds. With Zee Cinema stepping in as the main sponsor, the seven-day event will see over 100 films from over 30 countries.

It will open with Les Choristes (The chorus) by Christophe Barratier and close with Deepa Mehta's Water. As a tribute to Ismail Merchant, White Countess will be screened.

Organised by MAMI, the Y.B. Chavan Pratishtan and the National Film Development Corporation, the festival will showcase Serbian cinema in India for the first time, along with packages from Palestine, Israel, and Europe. It will pay tribute to two film legends on their birth centenary — Roberto Rossellini of Italy, and Prithviraj Kapoor.

Festival director Sudhir Nandgaonkar said: "We did not have enough time to get a package of films of Rossellini, but... we will show his film Roma, Citta Aperta (Rome Open City, 1945) and another film made on the making of the film. For Prithviraj Kapoor, the festival will screen Sikandar (1941)... All these films were organised in a span of a month and a half."

Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, MAMI chairperson, referred to the financial obstacles the festival overcame and commended Govind Swarup and Sudhir Nandgaonkar for their efforts. He mentioned the films from Europe, Palestine and Serbia and said the effort was to ensure the screening of those films that we never otherwise get to see. He said filmmakers in Serbia and Palestine were motivated to make films despite facing trying times.

Mr. Benegal said: "We will try to restore the dates back to January because that is the best time of the year. People should come to Mumbai to participate in the festival. We would like it to be an important cultural feature of the city."

Over a hundred films from France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Israel and other countries will be screened. The competition section is missing . The three-member international jury has Barbara Lorey from France, Aijaz Gul from Pakistan and Utpal Borpujari from India.

MAMI will honour with awards filmmaker Yash Chopra, music director Khayyam, cinematographer Ashok Mehta and actor Anil Kapoor with those for Lifetime Achievement, Significant Contribution to Hindi Film Music, Technical Excellence and Outstanding Contribution to Hindi Cinema over 25 years, respectively.

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