MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival 2016

MAMI 18th Mumbai Film Festival wrapped up with a prize distribution ceremony. Anupama Chopra, Kiran Rao, and Smriti Kiran, the three women who painstakingly put the festival together, sourcing films from across the globe, arranging carefully planned masterclasses, besides hosting a number of other sessions, and one very memorable reunion of the cast and crew of Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander.

This year the festival turned out to be very special for Konkona Sen Sharma. As she made her debut this year as a filmmaker with "The Death Of Gunj", she won the best Indian Female Director Award.

On the other hand, Director Alankrita Shrivastava’s film "Lipstick Under My Burkha" won the Best Film on Gender Equality Award.

By far the most unique and original film of the year, "Swiss Army Man" plays out a mushroom trip with a lot of emotional resonance.

Yet another lovely film from Mia Hansen Love, "Things to Come succeeds" in showcasing the many knots that arrive in life and how seemingly perfect relationships with the people you love can actually be far more difficult and jagged than you think. 

As lyricist Kausar Munir mentioned that film writing is a genre of literature that has not been considered as a part of mainstream literature, this time the festival opened the door for books in English, Hindi and other language to encourage more authors.

Keeping the importance of film history and literature in mind, the festival awarded film writer Anil Bhargav (Hindi) and Jay Arjun Singh (English) as Excellence in Best Writing category for their book "Bhartiya Cinemas Ki Itihaas" and "The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjee: The Filmmaker Everyone Loves".

Kiran Rao, the chairperson of Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival closed the ceremony with a vote of thanks to all the sponsors and teammates declaring the date of next year's festival to be between November 12 to 19, 2017.

Here is a list of those who took home the big prizes.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Golden Gateway Award - David Chou's Diamond Island.

Silver Gateway Award - Ralitza Petrova's Godless.

The Jury Grand Prize Natalia Almada's Everything Else.

Special Mention for Political Commitment of the Film - When Two Worlds Collide.

The Special Mention - Macarena Arias's Alba.

INDIA GOLD

Golden Gateway Award - Haobam Paban Kumar's The Lady of the Lake.

Silver Gateway Award - Satish Babusenan and Santosh Babusenan's The Narrow Path.

Jury Grand Prize - Aicheng Jai Dohutia's The Hidden Corner.

Special Mention - Deepak Sampath's Autohead

Special Mention - Shirley Abraham and Amit Madhesiya's Cinema Travellers.

DIMENSIONS MUMBAI

Golden Gateway Award - Santosh Ganpat Kamble for Mumbai's Mahuwa.

Silver Gateway Award - Tabu Kaariya's Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh.

Special Mention (Dimensions Mumbai) Award - Yashwardhan Goswami's Bombai.

HALF TICKET

Golden Gateway Award (Feature) – Laha Mebow's Hang in There, Kids!

The Silver Gateway Award (Feature) – Evi Goldbrunner and Joachim Dollhopf's At Eye Level.

Special mention (Feature) – Mrinmoy Mondal, Shupratim Bhol's Colours of Innocence.

The Golden Gateway Award (Short) – Vincent Patar and Stephane Aubier's A Town Called Panic: Back to School.'

The Silver Gateway Award (Short) - Nina Sabnani's We Make Images.

Special Mention (Short) - Pedro Paulo De Andrade's The Best Sound in the World.

OTHER AWARDS

Oxfam Award for Best Film on Gender Equality - Alankrita Shrivastava's Lipstick Under my Burkha

Mastercard Best India Female Filmmaker 2016 Award - Konkona Sensharma for A Death in the Gunj.

Audience Choice Award - The Salesman by Asghar Farhadi.

Young Critics Choice Award - Shirley Abraham and Amit Madhesiya's Cinema Travellers.

BOOK AWARDS

Special Mention for Excellence in Writing on Cinema (Hindi) - Naye Daur Ka Naya Cinema by Priyadarshan.

Special Mention for Excellence in Writing on Cinema (English) - Kanan Devi: The First Superstar of Indian Cinema by Mekhala Sengupta

Excellence in Writing on Cinema Award (Hindi) - Bhartiye Cinema Ka Itihas by Anil Bhargava.

Excellence in writing on Cinema Award (English) - The World of Hrishikesh Mukherjeeby Jai Arun Singh.