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MAMI Mumbai Film Festival Collaborated with Soho House Mumbai for its 2024 Edition spotlighting South Asian Cinema
Joining forces with MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, Soho House Mumbai has become a hub for the city’s film fraternity, hosting a celebration of Indian cinema.
Since 1995, Soho House, a global membership club for creatives, has served as a home for creative talent across the realms of art, music, design, fashion and film to come together. In 2018, they opened their first outpost in India — a townhouse overlooking the Arabian sea nestled in Juhu, Mumbai. Mirroring the ethos of their international counterparts, Soho House Mumbai remains committed to nurturing creative communities in the city.
And in the city of dreams, it’s the world of cinema that takes centre stage. The Mumbai house resides in the heart of Bollywood. In order to celebrate talent, create new opportunities and bridge the gap between creators, they have introduced cinema programming panels, screened about 40 films in a month, besides hosting mentorships and acting workshops, over the last six years. They remain committed to using their platform to nurture and support emerging talent.
Taking this commitment a step further, Soho House Mumbai recently partnered with MAMI Mumbai Film Festival again, this time for its 2024 edition, becoming the industry hub for insightful conversations with some of the most influential voices in Indian cinema. The festivities began on October 18, where Soho House welcomed the film industry for the opening party — a glamorous red carpet followed by a scintillating performance by Madboy / Mink.
“At Soho House, we are elated to collaborate with MAMI Film Festival for its 2024 edition,” said Kelly Wardingham, Regional Director, Asia, Soho House. “This partnership reflects our commitment to supporting the arts and providing a platform for creative expression. We look forward to welcoming industry professionals and film enthusiasts to Soho House Mumbai, where we can collectively celebrate the transformative power of cinema and contribute to the evolving landscape of the film industry.”
Over three days, 10 film screenings and 15 panel discussions took place. The line-up for the talks featured notable actors such as actor-producer Sohum Shah, actor Shahana Goswami, screenwriter Satyanshu Singh, director Shuchi Talati along with filmmaker and Soho House member Reema Sengupta, among other key members of the film fraternity on the respective panels. While actress Richa Chadha, who’s also a member of Soho House, hosted a talk around her film, Girls Will Be Girls [directed by Shuchi Talati] the House cinema screened it, along with others such as Agent of Happiness by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, The Fable by Raam Reddy and Santosh by Sandhya Suri, to name a few.
The Hollywood Reporter India attended a session titled, Artificial Intelligence: Dispersing The Fog featuring a diverse panel of industry experts: advocate Akshat Agrawal, colourist Mahak Gupta, Managing Director of PHILM CGI Arpan Gaglani and screenwriter and AI artist Prateek Arora. Moderated by renowned director and Soho House member Vikramaditya Motwane, the panel shed light on the real-world impact of artificial intelligence in the film world. Gaglani predicted that AI will take over all the labour-intensive work in the VFX industry, while Gupta did not share his opinion with regard to the colour grading sector. She believed that the work done by film colourists is nuanced and intuitive — qualities that machines are yet to master. Arora concluded the chat by acknowledging that while AI is gearing up to make art more accessible and therefore a bigger part of our culture, it will inevitably bring about a structural shift for those who work in the industry today.
Nearly three decades ago, Founder Nick Jones founded the first Soho House in London to create a safe space where creatives could connect and collaborate. And since 1997, MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), has supported emerging filmmakers and brought global talent to the country. A collaboration between these two cultural forces feels fated — a place where art, cinema and community can seamlessly come together and every corner comes alive.