The Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) has announced four emerging filmmakers selected for the second MAMI Select: Filmed on iPhone Program, utilizing the iPhone 16 Pro Max and M4 Max-powered MacBook Pros for their projects. The filmmakers, Amrita Bagchi, Rohin Raveendran Nair, Chanakya Vyas, and Shalini Vijayakumar, will receive mentorship from industry icons, including Konkona Sen Sharma. Bagchi’s psychological thriller “Tinctoria” draws inspiration from the 1859 indigo revolt in Bengal, while Nair’s “Kovarty,” a magical realism love story, is uniquely filmed from a typewriter’s perspective. Their short films will be available for free on YouTube.
The Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI) has announced its selection of four emerging filmmakers for the second MAMI Select: Filmed on iPhone Program. This year, these creators will utilize the iPhone 16 Pro Max for filming and edit their footage using M4 Max-powered MacBook Pros.
The debut edition of MAMI Select was a success, with two of its short films receiving prestigious honors at the 2025 Critics’ Choice Awards India, including Best Short Film, Best Director (Short Film), and Best Writing (Short Film).
This year’s chosen filmmakers for MAMI Select are Amrita Bagchi, Rohin Raveendran Nair, Chanakya Vyas, and Shalini Vijayakumar. They will receive mentorship from writer, director, and actor Konkona Sen Sharma, along with other luminaries from the Indian film industry.
“Filming and editing within the Apple ecosystem offers a significant advantage: speed,” states writer-director Motwane, known for his works in film and television such as Udaan and Black Warrant.
Amrita Bagchi filming Tinctoria
Amrita Bagchi is working on a psychological thriller titled Tinctoria, which draws inspiration from the indigo revolt in Bengal in 1859. She plans to utilize the iPhone 16 Pro Max’s Cinematic mode for the film’s opening montage and is making use of the 4K 120fps capability.
Filming Tinctoria on an iPhone 16 Pro Max • Editing it on a MacBook Pro
Rohin Raveendran Nair, who serves as director, writer, and cinematographer, is leveraging the iPhone’s compact design compared to conventional cameras. His short film, Kovarty, unfolds from the perspective of a typewriter and is characterized as a “love story tinged with magical realism.”
Rohin Raveendran Nair sets up a shot from inside a typewriter
In a creative twist, Nair has opted to shoot scenes from the typewriter in a 4:3 aspect ratio to evoke the feeling of paper, while broader landscape shots will feature a cinematic 2:1 ratio.
The four short films from the 2025 MAMI Select are accessible for free viewing on YouTube. Below is a playlist featuring their trailers, followed by a playlist containing the films themselves:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries
And here are the short films in their entirety (each approximately half an hour long):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries
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