MAMI ditches SoBo for suburbs
Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 3, 2014)

The Mumbai Film Festival which opens on October 14 has changed its venue at the last minute. Liberty Cinema, which was one of the main screening centres so far, will not exhibit the festival entries this year. Reason: It could not arrange a 2K digital cinema projector, sourced from Delhi every year.

A source told Mirror that the theatre management couldn't get octroi exemption on time, which increased the cost of transporting and using the machinery.

"Now, the organisers have booked six screens in Cinemax (Infinity Mall) and five in PVR (Citi Mall). There's one in Juhu's Chandan cinema," says a source.

This means guests too will be shifting base from SoBo to the suburbs. The dignitaries will be hosted by a Juhu five-star hotel.

Confirming the same, festival director Srinivasan Narayan said, "We were in talks with Regal cinema but things didn't materialise. Liberty is a great venue, very well-maintained, but it's not working out this year. Now, the festival will take place in the Andheri-Juhu belt."

When we asked if MAMI will lose patrons following the move to the other side of the city, he reasoned,"Those who value good cinema will travel anywhere for it. People go to Cannes and Berlin, don't they? So why not travel from Colaba to Versova?"

Liberty's manager, Errol Lobo, however maintained that he is not aware of this change in plans. "I haven't been told anything so far," he said.''