The one week-long Mumbai Film Festival concluded on an appreciative note yesterday; by filling the hearts of serious cinema lovers, with enough classic movies and impressive works of filmmakers from across the globe. The one whole week has been a treat for all kinds of professionals of the cine industry and the festival had honoured several personalities for their contributions in the field. Amitabh Bachchan bagged the Lifetime Achievement award for completing 40 years in the film industry while Greek film-maker Theo Angelopoulos won the same award for his thought provoking and visually appealing cinema. Dev Anand's banner Navketan films was felicitated for completing 60 years in the film industry.

In the Dimensions Mumbai competition, ‘Sagar Setu’ received the Best Film and its directors Chandni Arora and Archana Phadke won cash prize of Rs 1 lakh. ‘Mumbai Lego’ won the second Best Film while its director Sahil Shah bagged Rs 50,000 as a prize. ‘Whisper with the Wind’ by Shahram Alidi won the Mumbai Young Critics jury award. Abhay Kumar’s ‘Udaan’, Advait Chandan’s ‘Kala Khatta’ and Shirin Neshar’s ‘Women without Men’ got a special mentioned from the jury that is headed by Shabana Azmi. ‘Road to Sangam’, directed By Amit Rai Shethia, received the Audience Choice Award.

The International Jury was headed by Hollywood screenwriter-director Paul Schrader. Director Dominic Murphy’s movie ‘White Lightnin’ won the Best Film award and the director received 'Golden Gateway of India' award along with cash prize of USD 100,000. The Best Director "The Silver Gateway of India" award was given to Andria'n Biniez for his debut directorial ‘Gigante’. “The Silver Gateway of India” for Best Actress award was won by Paprika Steen (for ‘Applaus’) and the Best Actor was won by Edward Hogg (for ‘White Lightnin’). The Jury Grand prize went to La Pivellina, directed by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel.

This year the festival introduced the Film Business Centre, as a modest first step towards setting up a full-fledged "Film Market". According to reports, the Centre will serve as a networking platform for the Indian distributors, producers, television channels and the foreign sales agents, festival directors and producers to enhance the international sales of Indian films under the aegis of the Mumbai Film Festival.