Some of the best moments of global cinema are ready to be rolled out as the 10th International Film Festival opens on Thursday with Polish master Andrzej Wajda’s Katyn, based on the 1940 mass execution of Polish citizens.

The high point of the festival, however, is saved till the final day, on March 13, when Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura receives the festival’s Global Lifetime Achievement Award.

In between, the event will screen 140 international films from 45 countries, including Italy’s silent film Pinocchio(1911) with live music, Japan’s The Mourning Forest, Fearless from China and Romanian director Cristian Mungio’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. The bouquet also contains eight of Saura’s films. Apart from Wajda’s Katyn, which was in the Oscar race, the festival will showcase his Ashes and Diamonds, Conductor, Hunting Files, Landscape after the Battle, Man of Marbles and The Iron Man.

A look at the selection of films—a number of which have done the rounds of heavyweight international festivals held at Berlin and Cannes—and the introduction of Global Lifetime Achievement Award, shows the MAMI (Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image) festival’s aspiration to be prominent on the global festival circuit.

“The award is a special addition to the event in its 10th year along with Dimensions Mumbai. The latter is a competition of five-minute-long digital films, which has received nearly 50 entries,” says Kiran Shantaram, secretary of MAMI.

Shantaram admits the MAMI festival striving for an international status, but feels it’s too early to achieve this. He is probably right considering that the event has managed to overcome its financial hardships just two years ago.

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