The Mumbai Film Festival (Oct 14-21), recently saved by public donations following a funding crunch, unveiled its line-up today including the India Gold Competition and International Competition for first features.

The festival also announced that Catherine Deneuve will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, while master classes will be held by DoP Christopher Doyle and director Mahamat Saleh Haroun.

The International Competition includes Benjamin Naishtat’s History Of Fear, Sudabeh Mortezai’s Macondo and Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court, fresh from its Venice success. The India Gold competition includes Bikas Mishra’s Chauranga, Avinash Arun’s The Fort (Killa) and MS Prakash Babu’s Fig Fruit And The Wasps (see full list below).

Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic will head the India Gold jury, while the Dimensions Mumbai short film competition jury comprises directors Gauri Shinde  and Homi Adajania, actors Satish Kaushik and Huma Qureshi and critic Rajeev Masand.

Key films outside the competition sections include Xavier Dolan’s Mommy, Mike Leigh’s Mr.Turner, Ken Loach’s Jimmy’s Hall, Boyhood by Richard Linklater, Dardenne brothers’ Two Days, One Night, Kim Ki Duk’s One On One and Yoji Yamada’s The Little House.

Special programmes include a Catherine Deneuve retrospective; a spotlight on Arab cinema tracing its history from the 1950s; Rendez-vous with French Cinema; a retrospective of Russian films, and a section of restored classics.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Film Mart (October 15-17) will have a special focus on selling remake rights of foreign films to India. The first Remake Market, initiated by Unifrance and LaFabrique Films, will be held October 15-16. The Music Composers Lab, in partnership with Abbey Road Studos and PRS, will take place for the second consecutive year.

Entering its 16th edition this year, the festival was saved from closure by donations from local filmmakers, stars, industry figures and members of the public.In addition to donations, Bollywood stars including Aamir Khan and Shahid Kapoor, and directors such as Karan Johar, Rajkumar Hirani and Anurag Kashyap, have been actively supporting the festival through social media.

Shahid Kapoor tweeted: “Mumbai - the film capital of India - should boast of a world class film festival. Lets get together and  #Pledge4MAMI.”

MUMBAI FILM FESTIVAL 2014

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Difret, dir: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari (Ethiopia)

History of Fear, dir: Benjamin Naishtat (Argentina-France-Germany-Qatar-Uruguay)

With Others (Ba Digaran), dir: Nasser Zamiri (Iran)

The Tree (Drevo), dir: Sonja Prosenc (Slovenia)

Next to Her (At li layla), dir: Asaf Korman (Israel)

Schimbare, dir: Alex Sampayo (Spain)

Fever, dir: Raphaël Neal (France)

Court, dir: Chaitanya Tamhane (India)

Macondo, dir: Sudabeh Mortezai (Austria)

INDIA GOLD

The Fort (Killa), dir: Avinash Arun (Marathi)

Unto The Dusk, dir: Sajin Baabu (Malayalam)

Names Unknown (Perariyathavar), dir: Dr. Biju (Malayalam)

Buddha In A Traffic Jam, dir: Vivek Agnihotri (Hindi)

Fig Fruit and The Wasps (Attihannu Mattu Kanaja), dir: M S Prakash Babu (Kannada)

Rangaa Patangaa, dir: Prasad Namjoshi (Marathi)

Siddhant, dir: Vivek Wagh (Marathi)

Chauranga, dir: Bikas Mishra (Hindi)

Munnariyippu, dir: Venu (Malayalam)

The Pulsating Mindscape (Jeeya Jurir Xubax), dir: Sanjib Sabhapandit (Assamese)

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