Ivan Ayr’s Meel Patthar, Arun Karthick’s Nasir feature in 22nd Jio MAMI's official line-up of Indian films 

The Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) has announced its official selection list 2020 for Indian films under the sections of India Gold, India Story and Dimensions Mumbai. Last month, the festival had announced that the 22nd Jio Mumbai Film Festival had been pushed tentatively to October 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, in an effort to support the journey of independent films, MAMI announced its line-up for Indian films, which is the festival's way of endorsing films that would have been screened at the festival this year under normal circumstances.

Smriti Kiran, Artistic Director, MAMI and Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival said, “Our official selection list of Indian films is a show of faith and solidarity in this dark and difficult year. In the light of the festival not happening in 2020, the idea is to support and champion the Indian films that would have screened as part of the festival this yea.r”

Director Ivan Ayr’s Meel Patthar (Milestone), which is headed to the Venice Film Festival, Arun Karthick’s Nasir, Srishti Lakhera’s Ek Tha Gaon, Frida Pacha’s Watch Over Me and Prithvi Konanur’s Pinki Elli? have been selected under the India Gold category.

Speaking about the selection of his film, Ayr said, “I have fond memories of Soni’s screenings in 2018, and thank the selection committee for their recognition once again. In these painful times, any expression of jubilation seems inappropriate, so for now, I will patiently await the day when we come together to watch Milestone on the big screen in Mumbai.”

The India Story section features Borderlands by Samarth Mahajan, Abharkha by Himadri Parmar, Kuthiraivaal by Manoj Leonel Jahson and Shyam Sunder, Srishti by Paul Ratnaraj and Shoebox by Faraz Ali.

The third section, Dimensions features About Balika by Satyajeet Rajenimbalkar, Cameraman Devdutt Ke Saath Govind Ahuja by Kartik Hegde, Death of a Journalist by Kunal Shukla, Bhavesh Surte, Dharavi To Bollywood by Harsh Matondkar, Sarhad Wale Daddy by Snehal Garg and The Intruder by Rihen Shah, amongst others.

The selected films will not be screened this year either in theatres or digitally, but filmmakers will have the option to screen them at the festival next year in the same section as long as the film stays an India premiere till the end and is not available on any streaming platform.