Festival Time in Mumbai news

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It's a long time since the Asian Film Festival happened. And now the MAMI festival has been postponed until further notice. As if to add insult to injury reports from festivals from other cities are poring in. Goa, Trivandrum, Trichur, Bangalore, Pune. All cinephiles in Mumbai have to content with are stray screenings and their film clubs which showcase just one film per week which is simply not enough.

But good news is finally here. Mumbai will be witnessing two mini-film festivals back-to-back. They may not be a substitute for the real thing but they are a good stop-gap measure.

Up first is the Tri-Continental Film Festival. Human rights is the theme here and most of the films to be screened will be documentaries. The 28 films that will be screened encompass 20 different countries and include shorts as well. The good part is that it's a traveling film fest that will cover other cities like New Delhi, Goa, Bangalore and Kolkata. Screenings in Mumbai from the 23^rd -25^th Jan 2009 at the National Centre for Performing Arts. Further details can be found on their website http://www.triconfilm.com/

No sooner will the Tri-Continental have ended that the 7 Islands International Film Festival will kick off. From the 26^th Jan to the 30^th, this one has non-violence and disarmament as the theme. I personally fail to see how hosting a film festival, especially one populated by documentaries will help get the message across. Typically, such festivals end up having a low attendance rate. But it is not for me to judge their utility. I ought to be quietly enjoying the screenings instead.

It is being held under the aegis of the Bhavan's Cultural Centre. Screenings to be held at the Bhavan's campus, Andheri. Details here: http://www.7islands.in/home.html. Most of the films at this festival are award winning, although we live in an age where the terms "award winning" and "official selection" have been reduced to meaningless adjectives. The picks for me are the Oscar winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side and Rakesh Sharma's banned documentary Final Solution.

Right, so chart out your priorities, work out a schedule and be sure to attend. The festivals' success depends upon you!