Apart from showing world-class films or becoming a spawning ground for critics, a film festival should attempt to do much more. This is what veteran film-maker Shyam Benegal, the chairman of the MAMI (Mumbai Academy of Moving Image) film festival, feels. Benegal wants such festivals to act as a breeding ground for first-time directors too.
“We need to nurture people who have taken up the vocation because film-making as a career is not easy. It needs a lot of courage and passion to get off from a normal vocation and opt for film-making,” said Benegal.
He added that the MAMI film festival has put out a special section dedicated to first-time film-makers from across the world.“All of them will come to India with their creations,” he said.
Promoting first-time film-makers was a unanimous decision, says Benegal. The proposal got a thumbs-up from his colleagues like Shabana Azmi, Yash Chopra, Farhan Akhtar and Jaya Bachchan.
“Most people do not speak about young talents. They have to slog it out before they make the cut. We all had to go through that phase. So I thought that we should, in our own little way, give first-time directors their due,” he added. MAMI will also hold a contest among first-time directors.
Benegal said, “This has been introduced for the first time in an Indian festival. The competition is open to debutant film-makers from all over the world. Films made within one calendar year from the date of the forthcoming festival can participate in this section,” he said.
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