Will Hrithik play Buddha?

When you are in a soup, blame it on the Mumbai traffic. That's exactly what filmmaker and chairman of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) did as he apologised to have kept the media waiting for more than an hour. We caught up with him to know more about MAMI's 10th International Film Festival that kickstarts on March 6, 2008, across multiple screens in the city.

How will this time be different from the previous MAMI festivals? How has it grown over the years?

The very fact that we have started showcasing films from one to seven screens speaks for itself. This year, the festival is special in many ways. We will be screening 140 films from 45 countries in three theatres in the city (Adlabs Wadala, Metro Adlabs and Cinemax Versova). This time around, the Global Lifetime Achievement Award has been instituted which will be awarded to an international director for his/her contribution to the world cinema. The first award will be conferred to Carlos Saura, the renowned Spanish director who will be flying in to attend the function. The festival rounds off on March 13 with the award function.

What are the other highlights of the festival?

Besides Saura, a panel of film directors from Mexico, France and European countries is expected to attend the closing gala night. The festival will celebrate the 50th year of Academy Award-winning Polish film director Andrzej Wajda’s legendary film Kanal by a special screening of the film. The filmmaker in focus, Carlos Saura’s eight films including Carmen will be screened. To top it all, the festival will organise Ritwik Ghatak and Andrzej Wajda retrospective.

Tell us about the array of films to be screened this year.

Our film selection committee has selected the best of the lot from Switzerland, Brazil, China, Bulgaria, Egypt, Czech Republic, Columbia, France, Germany, Hungary, Greece, Iraq, Iran, Italy, Korea, Japan, Israel, Mexico, Lebanon, Bangladesh and so on…. We have tried to procure films, which may not have been successful commercially but have been able to leave a mark for the excellence in technique or ideas.

Is there any film from Pakistan on the list?

I have been told there was a film from Pakistan called Ramchandra Hindustani. But the producer backed out at the last hour for some unknown reason.

Watch: Actors having fun on the sets of Mahadev