The Story
OrganizerMumbai Independent Film Festival was founded in 2021 with a clear mission: to raise awareness and promote independent cinema as art, entertainment, and industry. The festival arrived at a moment when the Mumbai film ecosystem was wrestling with the post-pandemic restructuring of exhibition, production, and distribution, and the rise of OTT platforms was both threatening and creating new opportunities for independent filmmakers. Haril Shukla, who brings over 26 years of entertainment industry expertise to the chairman role, designed MIFF to serve both as a screening platform and a professional development environment: the jury system, masterclasses, and filmmaker dialogues are intended to help practitioners engage with each other and with the industry infrastructure they need. The hybrid format, combining physical screenings with online sessions, extends the festival's reach beyond Mumbai to filmmakers and audiences who cannot travel. By its fifth edition in 2025, the festival was firmly established in Mumbai's independent film calendar.
Mumbai is the centre of India's film industry but not necessarily of its independent film culture, which tends to gravitate toward festival cities like Goa (IFFI), Kolkata (KIFF), and Kerala (IFFK). MIFF carves out space for independent cinema within the commercial film capital itself, which is a different and necessary curatorial function: it brings indie cinema to an industry audience that might otherwise not engage with it, and it gives Mumbai's own independent filmmakers a home platform.
India's commercial film capital needs its own independent cinema platform, and MIFF provides it, connecting indie filmmakers directly with industry professionals and giving independent cinema visibility in a city that otherwise prioritises commercial production.
