Pranav Birje | Senior Correspondent
The 21st edition of the Third Eye Asian Film Festival, a prominent cultural event in Maharashtra, is set to take place from January 10 to January 16, 2025, in Mumbai and Thane. A total of 61 films will be screened at Moviemax theaters in Andheri, Sion, and Thane. The festival will commence with the screening of the Chinese film The Black Dog, which won the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival.
While foreign films, especially those from Hollywood and Europe, are increasingly accessible to Indian audiences, Asian films showcased at international festivals often go unnoticed. To bridge this gap, the Asian Film Foundation began organizing the Third Eye Asian Film Festival in 2002, aiming to present critically acclaimed Asian films to audiences in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra. For the past two decades, the festival has been a significant cultural fixture in Mumbai.
The 21st edition will feature films from countries such as China, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Tunisia, Japan, Iran, South Korea, and Sri Lanka under the “Asian Spectrum” section. The “Country Focus” section will highlight six films from South Korea.
In addition to Asian films, the festival will host competitive sections for Indian and Marathi films. The Indian competition will showcase eleven films in languages like Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, and Assamese. These include:
Janjarpur (dir. Navinchandra)
Pai Tang (dir. Prabal Khund)
Juiful (dir. Jadumani Dutta)
The Marathi competition section will feature eight films, including:
Asha (dir. Deepak Patil)
Cineman (dir. Umesh Bagade)
Karmayogi Aabasaheb (dir. Altaf Sheikh)
Gypsy (dir. Shashi Khandare)
Bhera (dir. Shrikant Bhide)
Magic (dir. Ravi Karmarkar)
Mandal Aabhaura Aahee (dir. Vidyasagar Adhyapak)
Chhabila (dir. Anil Bhalerao)
Renowned screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar will receive the Asian Film Culture Award, while journalist Rafiq Baghdadi will be honored with the Satyajit Ray Memorial Award.
To honor the late Sudhir Nandgaonkar, a special award for film writing will be presented to film scholar Anil Zhankar. Additionally, the festival will pay tribute to the late director Shyam Benegal by screening his films. In celebration of Raj Kapoor’s birth centenary, selected films featuring him will also be screened.
The festival will include open forums with jury members, masterclasses with directors and technicians, and other engaging activities.
Delegate registration is now open on the official website, www.thirdeyeasianfilmfestival.com.
The registration fee is ₹1000, with a discounted fee of ₹750 for students and film society members.