The oldest and largest film festival for non-feature films in South Asia, which began in 1990 is organized by the Films Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. The Organizing Committee of MIFF is headed by the Secretary, I & B and consists of eminent film personalities, documentary makers and film critics.

The 17th edition of Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short Fiction and Animation films (MIFF-2022) held from 29 May to 4 June, 2022 at the Films Division complex, Mumbai. Apart from competition and non-competition sections, interactive sessions like workshops, master classes, and open forum and B2B sessions were the major highlights of the 17th MIFF-2022. Films completed during 1st September, 2019 to 31st December, 2021 were eligible for entry in MIFF-2022.

While feature films generally address the entertainment needs of people, documentaries fill up the information needs of people. In a bid to make MIFF a people’s festival, the delegate fee has been kept at a modest Rs 300 while there was no fee for students. The screenings were held in the theatres in Films Division complex, 24-Pedder Road, Mumbai.

The response to the 17th edition of MIFF has been overwhelming, signifying a vibrant. The festival directorate received 808 entries, i.e. 158 entries from 30 countries in the International competition and 650 entries in the National competition. The festival directorate had constituted Jury consisting of eminent film makers from India and abroad to judge best films in both National and International Competition.

Golden Conch, Silver Conch and Trophies with handsome cash awards were part of the competition in categories like Best Documentary, Best Short Fiction and Best Animation film. Besides, Technical Awards were also given for Best Cinematography, Editing and Sound Design apart from Pramod Pati Special Jury award, Best Student Film Award and Best Debut Film Award, all of which carried trophy and cash awards. Indian Documentary Producers’ Association (IDPA) and the Government of Maharashtra, through Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari, joined hands with Films Division in instituting awards. The Dr.V.Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award was conferred upon coveted documentary filmmaker and mati-manush Sanjit Narwekar, carrying Golden Conch and cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs. All together cash awards of Rs 5.9 million (Rs 59 lakhs) given away during MIFF 2022.

Apart from films in various competition categories, best documentary short fiction and animation films produced in India and abroad were screened under special packages including Jury Retrospectives and Oscar films, best of festivals. MIFF-2022 showcased films of legendary film makers, Aleksandar Petrov of Russia, Janet Perlman of Canada, Regina Pessova of Portugal and of Jury, Chairperson Mina Rad from France.

Under Country Focus, 11 select documentary films from Bangladesh, celebrating 50 years of Indo-Bangladesh Friendship at the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav by India, were showcased.

Oscar nominated and award winning documentaries, curated by Short TV, apart from package of best animation films from Mexico, Iceland, Brazil & Poland from recent years were part of the package.

Premier of “Mighty Little Bheem –I Love Tajmahal” by Netflix and “Sukumar Ray”, Restored by NFAI, were special attractions apart from films curated by MUBI & Pocket Films in addition to films from Italy, France & USA including “Ramayana –The Legend of Prince Rama” by Indo-Japan Foundation.

Under Students’ Package, select films of Auroville Film Institute (Puducherry), National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad), MIT University of Design (Pune), SRFTI (Kolkata), K R Narayanan Institute of Visual Science & Arts (Kerala) and Yangon Film School, Myanmar were screened. A curated package of best documentary films made in recent years in North-East India was also screened in MIFF-2022.

A special screening of select films of NABARD and National Handloom Development Board apart from best of Films Division including films that won National Award and selected for Indian Panorama -IFFI, were also showcased.

MIFF-2022 paid cinematic homage to legendary film makers, Cecilia Mangini (Italy), Jacaues Drouin (Canada), Toshio Matsumoto (Japan) and Buddadeb Dasgupta, Chidananda Dasgupta, Guatam Benegal, Sumita Bhave, Chakradhar Sahu, Ajit Hari, Irom Maipak, Rahat Yusufi, Yashpal Choudhary, R R Swamy, B J Pulekar, Paul Koli, Mukesh Chandra, etc. from India.

The workshops and master classes were also conducted keeping in mind the changing technology in cinema and introduction of new & improved tools to tell a visual story, taking forward the Government’s thrust in the AVGC Sector.

Master Class on

Aesthetics of Sound in Cinema by Dr. Resul Pookutty
Wildlife Filmmaking as A Career by Nalla Muthu
My Creative Process (Animation) by Regina Pessoa (Portugal)
Pitch to qualify your film for the Oscars by Carter Pilcher (USA)
The Art of Storytelling by Prasoon Joshi
Animation in India for the World by Krishna Mohan Chintapatta &Tirthadip Ghosh
Expanded Cinema from Screens to OTT platforms by RizwanAhamd
The Art And Ethics of Film Restoration’ By Shivendra Singh Dungarpur
And Workshop on

VFX: The Ever Evolving Tool for Storytelling by P C Sanath
Scoring for Short-Films & Documentaries by Ramprasad Sundar
were well appreciated by film-lovers and delegates.

Open Forums by IDPA covering relevant subjects like “Opportunities for documentaries on OTT & other Digital Platforms”, “75 years of Documentaries Film Journey & Growth, CSR Funding”, “New avenues of Global Co-production/ Collaboration” “Contribution of Doordarshan on Society” and “Are Short Fiction films more viable/ popular/ acceptable”, were well received.

Participation by OTT platforms at MIFF-2022 was a unique achievement which expanded the ambit of the festival beyond film screenings for those who are in the lookout for the creative content from filmmakers. The head honchos of Amazon Prime Video, Docubay, Pocket Films, Shorts TV, Netflix, MUBI & Planet Marathi interacted with documentary film makers and worked-out to explore possibilities of streaming their films on OTT platforms by having more than 100 such B2B meeting under the platforms.

For the first time, online mode of screening of films in competition and prism had been introduced in 17th MIFF. The aim of the Hybrid Screening is to enjoy the films at MIFF by the Cinephiles from all around the world.

“Sruti Layam’’, evening cultural performance on topical themes including “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” by performers of Star Glam, students of UPG College & Khalsa College, Mumbai apart from officials of Films Division at the Amphitheatre at Films Division Complex was another highlight of the MIFF-2022.

While celebrating the films and filmmakers, MIFF-2022 created a definitive ecosystem for Documentaries, Short Films and Animation as MIFF by enabling the last mile connect between the Industry and the Market. MIFF-2022 recorded more than 12,000 footfalls.

About Films Division:

Established in 1948, Films Division has pioneered the documentary movement in India. It has documented the transformation of India as an independent nation through a series of news reels and Indian News Review, which today form part of rich archival footage. Over the years, Films Division has produced over 9,000 titles, out of which nearly 2,000 titles hold lasting value. Besides undertaking documentary production in house, Films Division supports the Independent Documentary makers through its Outside Production plan scheme. Recently, it has also joined hands with Civil Society Organizations (NGOs) engaged in documentary and short film production by routing film production endowments.