Photo Credit: Netflix
Netflix will present six films — five fiction and one documentary — at the 2019 Mumbai Film Festival, otherwise referred to by the acronym of its organising body MAMI: Mumbai Academy of Moving Image, the world's biggest streaming service has announced. They are Martin Scorsese's epic crime drama The Irishman, which stars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino; the Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver-starrer comedy-drama Marriage Story; the Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce-starrer biographical comedy-drama The Two Popes from City of God director; the documentary Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator about Kolkata-born hot yoga teacher Bikram Choudhury; the French animated film I Lost My Body; and the Wolof-language supernatural romantic drama Atlantics.
The Irishman is one of the most expensive films for Netflix and Scorsese, and reunites the director with De Niro for the ninth collaboration and their first since 1995. Based on the 2004 memoir “I Heard You Paint Houses”, it details the titular character's (De Niro) alleged hitman jobs for the Bufalino crime family. Directed by Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story is about a couple going through a gruelling divorce between New York and Los Angeles. The Two Popes is about the transition of power from Pope Benedict XVI (Hopkins) to current Pope Francis (Pryce). Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator looks at his rise and celebrity following in California, and the sexual abuse allegations that followed decades later. I Lost My Body and Atlantics are Cannes winners that were acquired by Netflix thereafter.
MAMI announced the lineup for the 2019 Mumbai Film Festival — the 21st edition of the event — on Monday, which currently includes more than 67 titles. The six titles for Netflix are double of what it had last year with Roma, Rajma Chawal, and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Netflix isn't the only streaming service with content at MAMI 2019. Amazon Studios has slotted the Adam Driver, Jon Hamm-starrer docu-drama The Report, and the Shia LaBeouf-starrer drama Honey Boy. Amazon is still in discussions to add more titles, it told Gadgets 360.
Other prominent titles at the 2019 Mumbai Film Festival include the Brad Pitt-starrer sci-fi adventure Ad Astra from writer-director James Gray; the Matthew McConaughey, Snoop Dogg, Isla Fisher, and Zac Efron-starrer stoner comedy The Beach Bum; the Ari Aster-directed folk horror film Midsommar; Pedro Almodóvar's Spanish Oscar entry Pain and Glory; Ken Loach's drama Sorry We Missed You; award-winning writer-director Faith Akin's thriller drama The Golden Glove; and Joanna Hogg's romantic drama The Souvenir. The opening film of the festival is Moothon, a bilingual crime film produced by Anurag Kashyap, who also co-wrote the film with director Geetu Mohandas.
Owing to the success of its discounted public access last year, the 2019 Mumbai Film Festival — which runs from October 17 to October 24 — is also priced at Rs. 500 for the full week.
The Irishman is out November 27 on Netflix, followed by Marriage Story on December 6, and The Two Popes on December 20. Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator, I Lost My Body, and Atlantics do not have release dates yet.
For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.