Going bigger and better the 15th edition of the Mumbai film festival presented by Reliance Entertainment and organized by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) not only has a wide showcase of world cinema the festival which kicks from 17-24 October 2013 will also see homage paid to Indian cinema greats like Yash Chopra, Pran and Rituparno Gosh.

The impressive lineup of 200 movies and other highlights were revealed yesterday at the curtain raiser press conference held at the Taj Mahal hotel in the presence of Mr. Shyam Benegal, Filmmaker and Chairman, MAMI, Mr. Amit Khanna, and Mr. Ramesh Sippy, Trustees, MAMI, Mr. Srinivasan Narayanan, Director, Mumbai Film Festival along with various dignitaries from the Indian Entertainment industry.

This year also the festival has announced new initiatives as part of the Mumbai Film Mart (Filmy Room and India Project Room) and a brand new Experimental film section to the festival. These new initiatives will be in addition to the other competition sections such as the ‘International Competition’, ‘Celebrate Age’ and ‘Dimensions Mumbai’. The total prize money at this year’s festival is USD 220,000.

The 15th Mumbai film festival will also host a celebration of Spanish Cinema organized in tandem with the Embassy of Spain in India. This celebration package will also include classics such as El Verdugo, Seven Days in January, Carmen amongst others.

The festival will also see the legendary Costa Gravas and Kamal Hassan conferred with Lifetime Achievement awards and leading talents like Bruce Beresford, Asghar Farhadi, Leos Carax, Siddiq Barmark, Nathalie Baye, Masato Harada attending the festival which apart from cleberation of French cinema will also have a spotlight on Cambodian cinema, will continue its Rendez-vous with French cinema for the 6th time. Make new voices in Afghan cinema with Kabul Fresh, Costa Gravas retrospective and Leos Carax special tribute.

The Mumbai Film Mart commencing from 18-20 October will introduce a new initiatives like India Project room and Filmy Room..

For learners Special Master Classes by Industry veterans such as Bruce Beresford, song composer Ilan Eshkeri, editor Jill Bilcock, and filmmaker Leos Carax will be held.

A special panel will be conducted by the Academy of Motion picture arts and sciences.

Liberty Cinema, Metro Big Cinema, Marine Lines are the main festival venues and Cinemax, Versova is the satellite venue.