MAMI 2019: Shia LaBeouf's 'Honey Boy,' Adam Driver's 'The Report,' Among Film Selections

The Scott Z Burns-directorial The Report, Alma Har’el’s Honey Boy and Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir are among the films expected to screen at the upcoming Mumbai Film Festival, HuffPost India has exclusively learnt.

The festival, popularly known as MAMI, will run in Mumbai from October 17 to October 24.

The Report features an interesting ensemble that comprises Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm and Jennifer Morrison. The film, which revolves around a secret torture program of the CIA, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and has received overwhelmingly positive reviews. The MAMI screening will mark the film’s Asia premiere.

Honey Boy, that has Shia LaBeouf mining experiences from his own life, is  about the stormy childhood and early adult years of an actor struggling to reconcile with his abusive father, played by Labeouf himself.

The film, too, premiered at Sundance, and was promptly acquired by Amazon Studios, where it will stream in November. It also features FKA Twigs, Natasha Lyonne, and Lucas Hedges in key roles.

Critics have hailed the film as an ‘act of cinematic therapy.’ In a post-screening session at its Sundance premiere, LaBeouf said, “It is strange to fetishize your pain and make a product out of it and feel guilty about that. It felt very selfish. This whole thing felt very selfish. I never went into this thinking, ‘Oh, I am going to fucking help people.’ That wasn’t my goal. I was falling apart.”

The Souvenir, starring Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke and Tilda Swinton is about a shy but ambitious film student begins to find her voice as an artist while navigating a turbulent courtship with a charismatic but untrustworthy man.

The film won the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize prize at the Sundance film festival and opened to much critical acclaim.

Guy Lodge of Variety  called it “achingly well-observed in its study of a young artist inspired, derailed and finally strengthened by a toxic relationship.

The full line-up is expected to be announced in the coming week, with cinephiles and MAMI regulars fervently hoping that Bong Joon Ho’s Palme d’Or winner, Parasite, Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory, and  Céline Sciamma’s festival darling, Portrait of a Lady on Fire make it to the final cut. 

This will be MAMI’s first edition with Deepika Padukone as chairperson while Anupama Chopra continues as festival director and Smriti Kiran as its artistic director.