Union Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurates 17th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival

Mumbai: Union Minister Piyush Goyal inaugurated the 17th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) on Sunday. The festival spans over 7 days featuring a lineup of 400 films from across the world.

The ceremony held at Nehru Centre Auditorium had the Minister speak about the importance of 'small-budgeted-movies' like 'The Kashmir Files' which generate good revenue while also narrating a true story.

The Minister emphasised the role of our artists play in creating a vision for the country. "You seed new ideas which give the country a new vision. All of you act as messengers in your own way, and these messages go through different ways like television, OTT or feature films. Not just entertainment, you also contribute towards uniting the country. You contribute to unite the country as one," he said.

He further talked about the huge role of animation movies in today's times, saying, "In coming days, we need to put more focus into animation films. There are innumerable opportunities in animation which make it easier to convey a message to the new generation. I would want huge production companies like Disney, Warner Brothers, Marvel studios to come to India."

He also praised the various artists present for encouraging more regional movies and talked about the advantages of global production companies shooting their movies in India.

"Our artists possess the talent and are highly skilled, be it photography, scriptwriting or acting. Also, for foreign filmmakers, the cost of filmmaking would also be less. This will make India proud on the global level and will also generate huge employment opportunities for crores of artistes," he added.

He then appreciated the filmmakers and thanked them for building a vision for the country by saying, "You have a huge contribution to the future of this country, your contribution to art, culture, tradition, heritage.. to history and legacy, our values.. your contribution to these facets of life is absolutely invaluable."

The ceremony was also attended by Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Dr L Murugan, Minister of State for Railways, Coal and Mines, Raosaheb Patil Danve and Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Ramdas Athawale and festival director Ravindra Bhakar. (ANI)