It's important to provide a platform to independent cinema and what could be better than a gala like MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, whose latest edition opens with Cannes Grand Prix winner "All We Imagine As Light", says festival director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur.

The festival will run from October 19 to 24, at two venues, Regal Cinema and Juhu PVR, and will see more than 110 films from over 45 countries, spanning over 50 languages being screened at the six-day-long event.

Payal Kapadia's "All We Imagine As Light" will open the festival and Sean Baker's "Anora", which won the Cannes top prize Palme d'Or in May, will bring down the curtain at MAMI.

"For a cinema lover or cinephile, there are many interesting films to watch at MAMI from a diverse range of independent films, the lineup is great in the South Asian cinema category, and restored classics.

"It is a people’s festival. At MAMI it is important to give a platform to independent cinema, and bring an interesting range of films for the people of Mumbai for whom the biggest religion of the city is cinema,” Dungarpur told PTI.

The filmmaker said the programming this year is "incredible".

"Many people are asking me what’s the difference between last year and this year, and all I say is, ‘Look at the line-up’. The opening film reflects independent cinema, it is about Bombay, its vibrancy and the language of Bombay.

"Why should we not celebrate the film ('All We Imagine As Light') that made India proud? Years ago Chetan Anand's ‘Neecha Nagar’ had won the then highest award (at Cannes). It is important to choose the right film because there’s so much more to take back and learn for those who love independent cinema,” Dungarpur added.

Films such as Sandhya Suri's "Santosh", Shuchi Talati's "Girls Will Be Girls" and other Cannes winners "The Substance" and "Emilia Perez" are part of the MAMI Mumbai Festival lineup.

The South Asia competition, a key section of the festival, is populated with films including "Agent of Happiness" by Arun Bhattarai, "Kiss Wagon" by Midhun Murali, "Little Jaffna" by Lawrence Valin, "Nocturnes" by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan, "Pooja, Sir" by Deepak Rauniyar, "Rhythm of a Flower" (Phool Ka Chand) by Amit Dutta, "Shambhala" by Min Bahadur Bham, "The Fable" by Raam Reddy and "Village Rockstars 2" by Rima Das.

Feature films that are up for showing include "A Fly on the Wall" by Nilesh Maniyar, "Shonali Bose Angammal" by Vipin Radhakrishnan, "Boong" by Lakshmipriya Devi, "Humans in the Loop" by Aranya Sahay, "In Retreat" (Be-qayaam) by Maisam Ali, "Marching in the Dark" by Kinshuk Surjan, "The Real Superstar" by Cédric Dupire, "The Shameless" by Konstantin Bojanov, "The Sharp Edge of Peace" by Roya Sadat and "Wild Flower Garland" (Katu Pootha Malay) by Udayraj P.J.

The festival will also screen restored classics such as Girish Kasaravalli's "Ghatashraddha" and "Arth", starring Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, and Kulbhushan Kharbanda.

"When we screened the films of Mr Amitabh Bachchan, ‘Bachchan Back to the Beginning’ on his 80th birthday, people went crazy. Even though some of the old films are available on YouTube people want to watch them in theatres," Dungarpur said.

Another highlight of the festival will be a masterclass with Azmi and Vidya Balan.

Azmi, who completed 50 years in the movies this year, will also receive the Excellence in Cinema Award, which will be presented by Waheeda Rehman.

"When we had to award a big artist like Shabana ji, we wanted someone who is equally big. We felt the legendary Waheeda ji was the ideal choice. Shabana ji is not just an actor, she has done great work off-screen for women and society," Dungarpur said.

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