Indian director Mani Ratnam and Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino are to receive honorary awards at the upcoming Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.
Ratnam will receive the festival’s Excellence in Cinema Award (South Asia) while Guadagnino will accept the Excellence in Cinema Award (International) during its opening night ceremony on October 27. Both will take part in discussions about their careers to date during the Jio MAMI Masters sessions.
The festival will also screen Ratnam’s recent box office hits Ponniyin Selvan: Part One and Ponniyin Selvan: Part Two, and Guadagnino’s 2009 romantic drama I Am Love.
Previous recipients of the award include Darren Aronofsky, Sharmila Tagore, Jia Zhangke, Fernando Meirelles and Chen Kaige.
Ratnam is one of the most acclaimed directors in South Asia, with a career spanning four decades and films that range from classic Indian love stories to political thrillers. Some of his most well-known titles include Anjali (1990), Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Guru (2007), O Kadhal Kanmani (2015) and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018). His two Ponniyin Selvan films are historical epics, with the first ranking as the 25th highest-grossing film in India, taking more than $60m worldwide.
Alongside the acclaimed I Am Love, Guadagnino is known for Oscar-winner Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria and feature documentary Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams. His latest feature, Bones And All, won the Silver Lion for best director at the Venice Film Festival in 2022. His upcoming film, Challengers, starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor will be released in April 2024. Guadagnino is also in post-production on William S. Burroughs adaptation Queer.
Hansal Mehta’s The Buckingham Murders will open the festival on Friday when the event returns for its first in-person edition since 2019 and runs October 27 to November 5.
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