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Lisa Joy
Westworld series co-creator and writer Lisa Joy is a straight shooter when it comes to dealing with networks. In a masterclass on screenwriting at the ongoing Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023, Joy said she prefers a transparent dialogue with the executives regarding money and time before starting work on a new season.
“I am a straight shooter when it comes to dealing with networks. Having a transparent dialogue with your executives about it (commissioning a new season) is very helpful. Because I have a business background, I always check all the numbers before everything else,” Joy told the audience.
Among other things, Joy shed light on her creative process. “Writing for me is like being a theoretical actor. You sit there in your mind and are cloaked in the body of a different character from a faraway land, from a different gender, from the future or from the past. It is about having the eyes of the character and looking around the world to see what’s there,” she said. “I read philosophy, look at other people’s work. To create any kind of world that is believable, you have to look and know what is believable.”
The Westworld writer stressed that she likes a diverse writers’ room as it helps strengthen her writing and the show. “The more diverse the room, the less marginalised the voices feel. There are so many different ways to do it… You are surrounded by beautiful people with some wonderful ideas. I try to make sure I am listening to everybody,” she explained.
“I like to have the trust (of my writers). I do not want to let ego creep into my room. If there is a good pitch that didn’t come from me, I’m overjoyed. It’s glory for everyone. It’s exciting to be around people whose ideas are better than my own, or enhance my own. I also believe in giving credit to those writers,” Joy signed off.
Academy-Award nominated film director Mira Nair is best known for her groundbreaking films that cross borders of all kinds: Salaam Bombay! (Caméra D’or, Cannes 1988), the pioneering Asian-African romance Mississippi Masala (1991),
Read More...Head of Jury
David Michôd’s debut feature, Animal Kingdom (2010), won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, earned Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for supporting actress (Jacki Weaver) and was named Best First Film of 2010 by the New York Film Critics Circle. Michôd’s second feature,
Read More...The Criterion Collection calls New York-based Isabel Sandoval ‘one of the most exciting and multitalented filmmakers on the indie scene with a bold approach to cinematic style.’ She has directed three features, including Señorita (2011), which premiered at Locarno,
Read More...Edouard Waintrop has been an Artistic Director of several renowned international film festivals which include the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes, a post he held for seven years and Fribourg International Film Festival in Switzerland for four years.
Read More...Kazakh film critic and researcher Dr Gulnara Abikeyeva was an artistic director of the Eurasia International Film Festival in Almaty from 2005 to 2013. She launched the film magazine Asia-kino, served as editor-in-chief of Territoriya Kino, and produced TV programmes about Kazakh cinema.
Read More...Head of Jury
Latika Padgaonkar is a columnist, editor, translator, former Joint Director of Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival, and former Executive Editor of Cinemaya, the Asian film quarterly. She was a foreign correspondent for The Telegraph in Paris in the 1980s;
Read More...Nashen Moodley is in his twelfth year as Festival Director of Sydney Film Festival. During his tenure, the festival has grown vastly. Moodley’s career in film programming has encompassed many leadership roles,
Read More...Aditya Shrikrishna is a freelance film critic and journalist from Chennai. He has been a published writer since 2013, and his work has appeared in The Hindu, Frontline, The Signal, The New Indian Express, Vogue, Fifty Two, Mint Lounge, Film Companion,
Read More...Senior critic, columnist and author Bharathi S. Pradhan is the former editor of Star & Style, Showtime, Lehren, Film Street Journal, Movie and Savvy (Consulting Editor). She continues to be a Sunday columnist with The Telegraph
Read More...Stutee Ghosh is an award-winning radio jockey, having won the prestigious India Radio Forum Best RJ Award. She started off while she was still doing her post-graduation in English Literature at Delhi University
Read More...Epic and intimate, 'Against The Tide' is transportive cinema, on the ground and under the sea. It’s a remarkable achievement, the director is in complete control over every aspect of the medium, plunging us into the elements while never losing sight of its deeply human core. Extraordinary cinematography, great humanity, humour and a wonderful way of seeing.
A deeply empathetic portrait of migrant lives, 'Bahadur' has a beautiful narrative rhythm and clarity of character, with great performances showing the strength of a director able to get a range of emotions from compelling non-actors.
A clear and audacious directorial signature, 'Agra' is unflinching and confident in its exploration of aspirational India.
For uniquely extending this spirit through exemplary innovation of cinematic form, the Rashid Irani Young Critics Choice is awarded to 'Kayo Kayo Colour? (Which Colour?)’.
Like birdsong at daybreak, hope rises from even the darkest nook of this city. Telling us it will get better. That there is joy to be found in what to the naked eye looks like scrap. From the first shot itself, this film evokes a sense of flight, of ascension. Each well-crafted frame and the easy natural performances feed this narrative with beautiful aesthetics, never losing its grip on what the filmmaker is trying to say. Joyous, confident, beautiful, satisfying. This gem of a film is all this and more. In five minutes this young filmmaker has given us hope. With such an easy display of heft and skill. So, of course, The Dimensions Mumbai Gold Award goes to ‘Nightingales In The Cocoon’ by Praveen Giri.
Dimensions Mumbai Silver Award goes to ‘Halfway’ by Kumar Chheda, for its simplicity, the use of the metaphor of meeting halfway in relationships, the writing that brought out nuances of partnerships, the technical execution of the film, the natural performances with the backdrop of a quintessential part of Bombay - the sea and Juhu beach - reminding us that it's a city that allows everyone to exist, without any judgement or differentiation.
The Best Film goes to ‘Summer of Soul’ directed by Sanjib Gogoi for being a moody portrait of sensitivity through strife and for its poetry without frills. A story that reinstates the fact that a bird put in a cage still doesn’t forget flight.
The Best Actor goes to James Elia as Shankar Pillai in Vakuppu for gliding through his performance as an authority figure, a wounded father, and a man weathered by time - all at the same time and all the time.
After much deliberation, considering the varied and engaging subjects of the shortlisted books, the jury has decided to award the meticulously researched book on cinema - ‘The Mahatma on Celluloid, a Cinematic Biography’ by *Prakash Magdum*. This book has significant and enduring value, not only to the student of cinema but also to the historian, the Gandhian and anyone studying media and communication worldwide.
Having a vibrant, perceptive and talented set of mentees made this year's lab sessions fun and stimulating. All these young critics handled a range of writing and participatory exercises with intelligence and sensitivity. Of course, this also made the task of choosing the best critic a difficult one. Here are the three runners-up for this year: Varun Bhakay, Aadhya Kancharla and Vanij Choksi. However, there was one writer who showed a special ability to combine personal, accessible writing with formal analysis and to also weave in a contextual understanding of film history. The best young critic is Diya Mathur.
In recognition of her lifelong commitment as an ambassador of Asian and Indian cinema internationally, and establishment of institutions that enable Asian talent through her work as a film critic, festival director, community builder and creator of organisations like NETPAC.
In recognition of her contribution of outstanding artistic significance to the field of film and cinema, for archiving the legacies of stalwarts of Indian cinema, and making Indian films accessible globally through her impeccable English subtitling of over 800 Indian films and counting.
In recognition of her lifelong commitment to showcasing Indian independent and art-house cinema at film festivals worldwide and creating visibility for Indian filmmakers and talent internationally through her work as a festival programmer and casting director.
Submissions Closed for 2023
Bhumi Pednekar
Ambassador, Dimensions Mumbai
Dimensions Mumbai is a competitive short film section that invites young filmmakers between the ages of 18 and 25 from all over India to submit films on the theme of Mumbai city. The films must be no longer than 5 minutes in length. Shortlisted films from all the entries will be shown on the big screen to an enthusiastic Jio MAMI audience. Dimensions Mumbai was first introduced to Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in 2009 by Ms. Jaya Bachchan, and since then it's been one of the most sought-after sections at the festival. Many filmmakers who've won at Dimensions Mumbai have gone on to direct feature films and web-series.
Please read the Rules and Regulations by clicking on the View & Download Button below.
Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival will be held from October 27 to November 5, 2023 in Mumbai.
This year, Jio MAMI announces its new vision to host the world’s biggest and most prestigious South Asian Film Festival and Year Round Programme, focused on building an ecosystem for new cinematic voices, facilitating exchange of ideas, collaborations and business opportunities while bringing the best of world cinema to Mumbai. Jio MAMI will have two sections for South Asian and South Asian Diaspora filmmakers -
In addition to the above, Jio MAMI will showcase feature length films in the World Cinema section from around the world.
Submissions for the South Asia and World Cinema sections of the festival are closed.
Please read the Rules and Regulations by clicking on the View & Download Button below.
Copyright © 2024 by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image. All Rights Reserved.
Academy-Award nominated film director Mira Nair is best known for her groundbreaking films that cross borders of all kinds: Salaam Bombay! (Caméra D’or, Cannes 1988), the pioneering Asian-African romance Mississippi Masala (1991), Golden Globe & Emmy-winning Hysterical Blindness (2001), and the international hit Monsoon Wedding (2001), for which she was the first woman to win Venice Film Festival’s prestigious Golden Lion. Also known for her literary craftsmanship of subcontinental fiction, Mira has filmed The Namesake (2006), The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012), Vanity Fair (2004), A Suitable Boy (2020) and Queen of Katwe (2016). Her next film will be AMRI, an experimental portrait of Amrita Sher-Gil. Her most recent endeavor was directing Monsoon Wedding the Musical, which opened in New York City in May 2023 and is bound for Broadway.
An activist by nature, Nair founded Salaam Balak Trust for Indian street children in 1988 and the Maisha Film Lab in 2004, a free school to train filmmakers in Africa. In 2012, she was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour.
David Michôd’s debut feature, Animal Kingdom (2010), won the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, earned Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for supporting actress (Jacki Weaver) and was named Best First Film of 2010 by the New York Film Critics Circle. Michôd’s second feature, The Rover (2014), starring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. He wrote and directed the 2017 feature film War Machine, starring Brad Pitt, for Netflix and co-wrote and executive-produced the 2019 Hulu limited-series adaptation of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. His fourth feature film, The King (2019), starring Timothée Chalamet and Joel Edgerton, premiered at the Venice Film Festival. He is currently completing his fifth movie, Wizards!, starring Pete Davidson and Franz Rogowski, for A24.
The Criterion Collection calls New York-based Isabel Sandoval ‘one of the most exciting and multitalented filmmakers on the indie scene with a bold approach to cinematic style.’ She has directed three features, including Señorita (2011), which premiered at Locarno, and Independent Spirit Award Nominee Lingua Franca (2019), which debuted at Venice. In 2022, Sandoval joined the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and starred in the César-winning documentary short Maria Schneider, 1983. TV directing credits include Under the Banner of Heaven (2022) starring Andrew Garfield and The Summer I Turned Pretty (2022). She is developing her next feature, Tropical Gothic.
Edouard Waintrop has been an Artistic Director of several renowned international film festivals which include the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes, a post he held for seven years and Fribourg International Film Festival in Switzerland for four years. He has also been a respected critic critic at the French newspaper Liberation for more than 26 years. He has been a big supporter of contemporary Indian cinema internationally.
Kazakh film critic and researcher Dr Gulnara Abikeyeva was an artistic director of the Eurasia International Film Festival in Almaty from 2005 to 2013. She launched the film magazine Asia-kino, served as editor-in-chief of Territoriya Kino, and produced TV programmes about Kazakh cinema. As a member of FIPRESCI and NETPAC, she is a frequent jury member at different international film festivals. She was a Fulbright scholar in the USA (2001–2002) and delivered lectures at Pittsburgh, Harvard, Yale, and Tufts Universities. Recently she was a research scholar in Japan (2018–2019) and delivered lectures at Hokkaido, Tokyo, and Kyoto Universities. She is the author of ten books about cinema, mostly about Kazakhstan and Central Asian countries. Her first book, New Kazakh Cinema, was published in 1998, –followed by Cinema of Central Asia: 1990–2001, which won the White Elephant Award, presented by the Guild of Film Critics of Russia. The book, Nation-Building in Kazakhstan and Other Central Asian States, and How This Process is Reflected in Cinematography (2006) received the prestigious national prize, ‘Kulager’, as the best book of 2007 in Kazakhstan. In 2013, she had three international publications: Cinema in Central Asia: Rewriting Cultural Histories, co-edited by Michael Rouland and Birgit Beumers (Great Britain); The Unknown New Wave of Central Asian Cinema, co-edited by Kim Ji-Seok (South Korea); and Makhmalbaf’s Film House (Russia). Currently, she is a professor at Turan University in Almaty, where she delivers lectures on film history and film theory.
Latika Padgaonkar is a columnist, editor, translator, former Joint Director of Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival, and former Executive Editor of Cinemaya, the Asian film quarterly. She was a foreign correspondent for The Telegraph in Paris in the 1980s; she has also worked for UNESCO in New Delhi and for the National Commission for Women’s Media Group. Currently, she is a member of the Media Foundation.
A PhD from the University of Sorbonne, Paris, she taught at Fergusson College in Pune and Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. A jury member at several national and international film festivals and for the National Film Awards as well, she has organised – as a PIC member – film festivals at the National Film Archive of India.
Latika Padgaonkar has co-edited – among other books – Being & Becoming: The Cinemas of Asia, An Asian Film Journey: Selections from Cinemaya, Kenji Mizogchi and the Art of Japanese Cinema, and Making News, Breaking News, Her Own Way. She has translated The French in India: From Diamond Traders to Sanskrit Scholars and Sujata Bajaj – L’Ordre du Monde.
Nashen Moodley is in his twelfth year as Festival Director of Sydney Film Festival. During his tenure, the festival has grown vastly. Moodley’s career in film programming has encompassed many leadership roles, including Manager at the Durban International Film Festival (2001–2011) and Programming Consultant for Dubai International Film Festival (2005–2017). He has been a jury member at various film festivals worldwide, including San Sebastián, Busan, Toronto, Rotterdam, El Gouna, Durban, Sarajevo, and Tokyo film festivals. Born in South Africa in 1978, Moodley studied English and philosophy at the University of Natal and worked as a journalist before turning to film programming.
Aditya Shrikrishna is a freelance film critic and journalist from Chennai. He has been a published writer since 2013, and his work has appeared in The Hindu, Frontline, The Signal, The New Indian Express, Vogue, Fifty Two, Mint Lounge, Film Companion, The Wire, The Quint and Economic & Political Weekly. He has covered film festivals such as TIFF, Berlinale, and NYFF as accredited press. He is also the co-founder of The Other Banana, a podcast on South Indian cinema. A collection of his work is available on www.adityashrikrishna.com
Senior critic, columnist and author Bharathi S. Pradhan is the former editor of Star & Style, Showtime, Lehren, Film Street Journal, Movie and Savvy (Consulting Editor). She continues to be a Sunday columnist with The Telegraph and is a critic and show host with Lehren Networks. She is also a Founding Member of the Film Critics Guild and was an advisory member of the Censor Board of Film Certification. She has written several inspirational books, including Colas, Cars & Communal Harmony: A Doff to Bollywood’s Secular Colours, Heartfelt (on how the mind can heal the body), Anything But Khamosh: The Shatrughan Sinha Biography, Ramesh Chandra Agarwal (on the man who built Dainik Bhaskar, a leading daily of India), and Priyanka Chopra: The Dark Horse. She has ideated for Balaji telefilms, curated awards and has been a member of diverse juries. She has also made The Rebel Dancer, a documentary on a firebrand Kuchipudi exponent.
Stutee Ghosh is an award-winning radio jockey, having won the prestigious India Radio Forum Best RJ Award. She started off while she was still doing her post-graduation in English Literature at Delhi University. She forayed into film reviews and criticism and has been associated with TV and digital media as well. Born and brought up in Delhi, she is currently Head of Programming for Fever FM Mumbai. She hosts The Superwomaniya Show, which is aired nationally. She is also a film critic and a Celeb Chat show host with the Hindustan Times. She conceptualised and hosts the first-ever show on radio dedicated to books called Stutee’s Book Club, where she regularly features bestselling authors talking about their latest books. Ghosh has been part of film festival juries. As a member of the Film Critic’s Guild, she curated the Best Bengali Film Awards at the first-ever Critic’s Choice Film Awards 2019.