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Aditya Shrikrishna
1 Dec 2023
In Sumanth Bhat’s Kannada film Mithya, we are always behind eleven-year-old Mithun aka Mithya (Athish S Shetty). We see what he sees in these moments. Bhat, with his cinematographer Udit Khurana, films Mithya from the back of his head almost all the time. In the very first scene, Mithya is standing perilously close to the door of a zipping train, and we are behind him as he remains still and the background whizzes away.
The composition follows a similar pattern — when he arrives at his new home in an auto, when he is climbing the hill to the lighthouse with his uncle or when he is sitting beside him, watching the waves. There is the face we cannot make sense of and an uncertain future on the horizon. We are behind him throughout this journey of grief, anger, disillusionment and silent inquiry. His face speaks all of it but Bhat places us in the liminal space that is occupied by him with all the questions jostling for space in his mind.
Produced by Rakshit Shetty and written and directed by Bhat, Mithya had its world premiere at the recent Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2023 as part of the South Asia Competition. It is about the eponymous child who is brought to Udupi from his home in Mumbai by his maternal aunt and uncle after the death of his parents. His father has passed away and his mother has died by suicide. The matter, however, is more complicated; he has a little sister he didn’t know about. He learns new information about her that adds to his burning questions.
Mithya against the world
This sets the ground for extreme grief, saddled by melodrama, but Bhat’s staging is more observational and non-judgmental. The camera stays in doorways or in the dividing spaces of a home too small for a family of three that is now a family of five. It is sometimes far away from Mithya, a long shot through a crevice as he tries to make new friends in a new school.
While the whole family is welcoming and sympathetic towards Mithya and his sister, the father cozies up to him more than his mother’s sister. Mithya turns out to be the gift, the son he always wanted. Amidst the badgering of different forms of affections, sympathy and endearments, the question of custody comes into play as his father’s family shows up with new allegations.
A trapped soul is hard to navigate and Bhat’s exploration of this is complicated by one that is caught in a tug of war. The film comes up with inventive ways to deal with it —there is the question of language. Mithya, more comfortable in Marathi, finds himself in a different part of the country and goes to a Kannada-medium school. A change of place from the bustling Mumbai to the comatose Udupi brings its own culture shock.
Mithya is a film that’s as much about displacement as it is about estrangement. At one point, Bhat cuts from a raging fire to the blues of water. From extended family that brings with it new mysteries about his own parents to a school where very few are curious about him. In the unbridled battle of custody that ensues, hate takes root in the darkest corners of Mithya’s soul. It begins to fester and gradually assumes a sinister form. This is aided by Bhat’s own lethargic pace, the images of a lone Mithya in a town too sparse and forever overcast and gloomy. The images keep reinforcing that it is not a story of the mother’s family against the father’s but Mithya against the world.
A young boy’s innermost self
The question of lineage is another dangling conversation in Mithya. At one point, the subtext of the custody battle comes out in the open from his father’s relatives — Mithya is the heir to the family and, therefore, key to their bloodline. And for his uncle Surya, he is the son he never had. The film is ostensibly about Mithya but it’s also about the follies of grown-ups and the consequences that befall the children. He offers his daughter’s cycle to him, wishes to send him to the same school as her and bonds with him in ways he never does with the two girls in the house.
Bhat and Athish S Shetty’s strengths lie in rationing Mithya’s spoken words. Even the score is made of gentle keys when the frame is populated only by Mithya and his innermost self. He speaks very little and does a whole lot with his hands, his body and posture. He remains quiet, with his gaze often tinged with longing, occasionally underscored by flashes of rage.
He pedals the cycle with purpose, laughs while watching porn on the mobile phone but also beats, and turns a fun game into violent assault. The Mithya who kicks a volleyball away in anger is different from the one who gets into a fight later in the film. There is an economy of expression in Bhat’s filmmaking, the cloud of dust in Mithya’s head diffuses with time — why is a young boy not allowed to process one kind of emotion before he is thrust into several others?
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),
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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.
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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.
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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.
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