After appointing an all-women jury led by Oscar winner Jane Campion, the organisers of Moving Images (MAMI) film festival are giving an opportunity to 32 city college students to be part of Mumbai Young Critics Special Jury.
They will also get to honour a film at the 12th Mumbai Film
Festival with a Mumbai Young Critics’ Award, which will carry a Silver Gateway trophy and a certificate. The Academy initiated the experiment of picking up students to become critics for MAMI last year.
Srinivasan Narayanan, director of the festival initiated by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Big Entertainment, concedes that they owe this inspiration to Cannes Young Critics, where students from France and Berlin participate.
“Since it was the first time we were trying something new, we chose about 10 students. Seeing the overwhelming response, we decided to move it on a larger scale,” he said.
“Each college will nominate two students, who have to write about a film we screen for them, as part of the test. Our panel of critics examines the reviews to identify students who have an understanding of cinema and a flair for writing.”
“Those chosen are trained in film understanding and appreciation, followed by another three-day workshop,” he added.
Some of the colleges from where students will be selected include Xavier’s Institute of Communication, Whistling Woods International, Digital Academy, Mumbai University, MET, SIES, Sydenham, Rizvi, St Andrew’s, National and NM.
The objective is to provide young minds with an opportunity to experience the aesthetic standards of the best in cinema, and experience world-class film criticism and appreciation.
Last year, German critic and writer Daniel Kotchenshulte conducted the workshop sponsored by Max Mueller Bhavan.
“We’re in talks with another celebrated writer for this year’s workshop and will most likely announce the same by September 21,” said Narayanan.
The Mumbai Young Critics will also get to interact with celebrity guests and participate in seminars. “Their reviews will be published in the festival daily bulletin and other festival publications. And the Mumbai Young Critics’ Award with which they will honour a film at the festival,” he added.