It’s that time of the year again: MAMI Select — Filmed on iPhone initiative. The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), organisers of MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, has announced the second edition, after a brilliant offering last year.

To create their short films, the programme will give each selected filmmaker a grant, iPhone 16 Pro Max to shoot the film and MacBook Pro to edit the film.

How can you be a part of it? MAMI Select has started a nationwide call for applications to discover four emerging filmmakers (applicant filmmakers) from diverse Indian regions. This idea is to present the dynamic nature of regional cinema through four short films, each between 20 and 40 minutes long and presented in four languages: Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, and Tamil.

Importantly, the four selected filmmakers will be mentored by an illustrious panel, including multiple National Award-winning actor and director Konkona Sen Sharma, highly acclaimed Malayalam filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery, eminent director and producer Vikramaditya Motwane and renowned Tamil filmmaker Vetrimaaran. They will keep the selected few company through the entire process — pre-production to post-production, allowing the filmmakers to explore innovative storytelling techniques.

Vikramaditya Motwane said: “I was completely blown away by the quality of the storytelling and the technical finesse of the short films last year and I cannot wait to see what kind of magic the new batch of filmmakers create this year.”

Konkona Sen Sharma is also excited about “the focus on enabling and providing a platform to fresh young filmmaking voices”.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max and MacBook Pro are known for their prowess when it comes to videos. Filmmakers around the world are using various tools from Apple to make their dreams come true.

The completed short films will premiere at a special screening event, followed by their release on the MAMI YouTube channel.

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, festival director, MAMI, said: “I am delighted to announce MAMI Select — Filmed on iPhone where for the first time we have opened the call for applications across the country to make films in four regional languages. Selected filmmakers will have the incredible opportunity to work closely with the four outstanding mentors that we have carefully selected from different regional film industries, each of whom are celebrated filmmakers in their own right, making films in diverse languages.”

For Lijo Jose Pellisserry, this is a two-way process: “In filmmaking, we are learning every day and I am sure that I will learn as much from this mentorship as the selected filmmaker.”

Vetrimaaran said: “There is a great deal of untapped talent in filmmaking in every part of our country and an initiative like this will amplify new voices that will enrich Indian cinema enormously.”

The call for entries is now open and the deadline for submission is January 19. For more details, visit www.mumbaifilmfestival.com.