The buffet comprises films and documentaries on peace, human rights, contemporary France and even Mumbai. What has really created the buzz is the first Rendezvous with French Cinema in India, starting Sunday. The Mumbai International Film Festival for documentary, short and animation films (MIFF) will keep up the tempo with a weeklong treat of international bests from February 3-9.

The 7 Islands International Film Festival, held by Bhavan Cultural Centre, will set the mood for binging on global cinema. The festival, back with 19 documentaries and feature films, will be inaugurated on Saturday with A Song for Boko. The event, which aims to spread ideas of non-violence and disarmament, will also show The Last Atomic Bomb, Colorblind and Amnesia before wrapping it up with Elizabeth Taylor-starrer Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on February 1.

Russia had been remiss from the festival circuit for a while but the Cultural Centre of Russia, in collaboration with the Federation of Film Societies of India and the National Film Development Corporation of India, holds shows at regular intervals. Starting Monday, Sword Bearer, Extra Time, Happy New Year. Daddy and The Boulevard Binding will be screened at 6.30 pm at Pedder Road.

However, the Rendezvous remains the most talked-about foreign film event. One can blame it on Shah Rukh Khan, who will receive the Insignia of Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters award as part of this on Sunday. The screening of Asterix at the Olympic Games will follow the ceremony. Cine-buffs are likely to crowd Fun Republic to catch contemporary French films, with Azur and Asmar, Caramel, The Science of Sleep and The Science of Sleep proving to be major draws.

“Indian cinema and the audience both have matured a lot in last couple of years. We thought the time is ripe to tap its potential,” said Philippe Martinet, Cultural Counsellor to the French Embassy in India.

After its run in Delhi, the Tri Continental Film Festival, which has films from Asia, Africa and America, reached Mumbai on Friday. The three-day event, organised by Breakthrough, which attempts to promote human rights culture through cinema, will screen 25 films at NCPA’s Little Theatre. “We have tried to bring to you diverse images of war, exploitation and strident voices of the unheard,” says its associate director Alika Khosla.

What will bring an apt end, at least for a while, is the 10th International Film Festival Mumbai to be held from March 6-13. Apart from screening 100 films from 40 countries, it has added a new section this time — Dimensions Mumbai, a competition of short films on the metropolis. Festival director Kiran Shantaram says, “We are hoping for an increased footfall this time.”