The brainchild of industry stalwarts like Shyam Benegal, Amol Palekar and Amit Khanna, the second Mumbai International Film Festival was scheduled to begin on November 24. But the state government, the private sector and even Bollywood, all of whom MAMI was heavily banking for funds, have failed to loosen their purse strings for the festival this year. ``Because of the present state of the economy, sponsorships have dried up, and even those who supported us last year have backed out this time,'' said Benegal.

The movie-churning Bollywood, which was reportedly miffed that it was not consulted by the ``new wave'' organisers on the festival last year has also been tight-fisted. ``Nobody has discussed the festival orsought any help from us,'' said Shakti Samanta, president of the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA).

Last year, the festival, which featured close to 70 films, was budgeted at Rs 40 lakh, and funded by sponsors like Mahindra and Mahindra and Bank of Baroda. The state government had also released Rs 10 lakh from the Chief Minister's fund, besides providing accommodation to the delegates. This time though, both parties have backed out. ``Our final talks with our last private sponsor fell through some few days back, and we decided to postpone the festival till next year,'' said MAMI's programme director, Sudhir Nandgaonkar.

Calcutta and Thirvanathapuram have held international festivals with the full backing of their respective state governments. ``We could have utilised the film packages sent for these festivals for our festival and saved money on freight charges,'' rued Manmohan Shetty, an organiser.

However, state cultural affairs minister, Pramod Navalkar told this newspaper that thefestival was not within his purview. ``It is for the Chief Minister to take a decision on financial assistance for this event, and he hasn't done it so far,'' he said.

This year's package of approximately 60 films was to include retrospectives on Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami and Japanese filmmaker Kenzo Mizoguchi. And like last year, the world cinema section was to feature a special NRI film package. Benegal, however, was optimistic about the festival's future and hoped that a fund crunch is just a temporary hiccup. ``I don't think we'll face such problems in the future,'' he said.