MUMBAI: The tenth edition of the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image's (MAMI) International Film Festival will kick off on 6 March. Presented by Reliance Big Entertainment, the festival will screen 140 films from 45 countries.

This year, the festival has introduced a Global Lifetime Achievement Award, which will be given to an international director for his/her contribution to the world cinema.

The festival is also introducing a short film competition called "Dimensions Mumbai," for which digital films of five minutes' durations depicting various aspects of life in Mumbai are being invited. The age of the participants should be 25 years or less. The best entry would be awarded a cash prize of Rs 150,000, initiated by Jaya Bachchan, who is also one of the trustees of MAMI.

The opening gala night will mark the screening of Polish master Andrzej Wajda's latest film Katyn, nominated for an Oscar in the foreign film category. Premiered at the 58th Berlin Film Festival, Katyn will now witness the grand Asian premiere of the film.

On the closing gala night, The Mourning Forest, a Japanese film that won the Grand Prix at the 60th edition of Cannes Film Festival in 2007, will be screened.

The Global Lifetime Achievement Award will be conferred on the Spanish director Carlos Saura, for his outstanding contribution to cinema. Saura is the filmmaker in focus whose eight films including Carmen will be screened at the festival.

The Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to Dharmendra and Rishi Kapoor will be honoured with the Award for Significant Contribution to Cinema over 25 years while lyricist Gulzar will receive an Award for Outstanding Contribution to Indian Film Music and Hitendra Ghosh will be presented with the Kodak Award for Technical Excellence.

The festival will have a special screening of To Each of His Own Cinema, a film made by 25 world-renowned directors to celebrate 60 years of Cannes Festival in 2007.

It will feature retrospective of Ritwik Ghatak and Andrzej Wajda, whose film Kanal is celebrating its 50th year.

The Italian silent film Pinocchio (1911) restored by Cineteca will be another attraction of the festival. The film, based on Collodi's famous novel, will be screened with live music. The screening is sponsored by the Italian Consulate of Mumbai.