With the support of Unifrance, the director of Love at First Fight traveled to the Mumbai Film Festival. Thomas Cailley tells us about his journey.
"The 2014 edition of the Mumbai Film Festival had a very special tone and energy that was palpable right from the opening ceremony. No doubt this was due to the context: threatened with closure when its main sponsor pulled out, the MFF was saved in the nick of time when the Indian film industry pulled out all the stops and came to the rescue.
The organizers had to make do with whatever means were at hand for this edition and the organization suffered slightly from this (sessions starting late, Q&As shifted or canceled, the vaguest of audience management at the end of sessions...). But this is neither here nor there. The desire was present, as was the public. All the films I saw played to full houses, and you could feel that audiences were truly excited and enjoying themselves.
Love at First Fight's premiere took place on October 18, in the evening and to a full house. It got a great reaction: I stayed in the theater for the whole session and I could feel that the audience was caught up and really interested in the film. There was a lot of laughter (and even applause - spectators in Mumbai can be very expressive). There was no Q&A at the end of the film (due to the organizational problems mentioned earlier). That was a bit of a shame, but the most important thing did occur: the film was well received, understood, and, I believe, appreciated."
