Bradford International Film Associates proudly announce the UK release of the controversial British Asian thriller, Lies We Tell. Releasing in UK cinemas on 2nd February 2018, Lies We Tell has a stellar star cast including Gabriel Byrne, Manzar Sehbai and Harish Patel, as well as talented newcomers Jan Uddin and Sibylla Deen.
Scripted and directed by the debutant director, Mitu Misra, who shot the entire movie in and around his hometown Bradford. At the age of 57, Mitu Misra has created an outstanding and compelling film that makes one question what we see on a daily basis.
Mitu shared, “Lies We Tell is a blend of six true stories and the main purpose of it was to see how long do we expect someone to tolerate these numbers of hypocrisies before they turn. How long does it take for a nice, neutral, honest to goodness guy to become radical?... The reaction of the friends I grew up with, to certain circumstances, events in the world, I just couldn't fathom their reaction to certain things. And I had to find out what it was. What I found out is what the films is about.”
Lie We Tell is about a chauffeur Donald and after his boss' death, he finds himself tasked with removing all traces of his secret mistress. In the process, he finds himself caught up in a world of violence, arranged marriages and honour killings.
The film had its hugely successful world premiere at the prestigious Raindance Film Festival, and also had the honour of being screened at the Mumbai Film Festival and Australia's Byron Bay Film Festival.
Born in India, Mitu arrived in the UK with his parents when he was 9 months old. Being a first generation immigrant, he faced many challenges while growing up in Bradford. It made him determined to ensure he becomes successful in life. Being a successful businessman, he realised that he had many stories to tell but had no idea how to tell them, and hence, he decided to go to college to learn about screenplay. From learning how to write, to penning the script and then to directing the film, the journey took Mitu around 11 years to complete. However, filmmaking had never even crossed his mind while growing up. Mitu recalls, “I never wanted to make a movie. I never thought I'd be in a position to make a movie. My primary aim was not to be poor. Most foreigners who you would come across here, the first thing they want to do is get out of poverty and be independent so that they don't have to be subjugated to listening to things that they don't want to listen to.”
Mitu hopes that Lies We Tell helps people see things in a different light. He said, “I really hope that this film helps people see what's important about their afterlife. What I find is that too many people want other humans to approve of their piousness, yet no religion really cares about what other humans think about you. It's between you and your God and that is what I'm trying to emphasise a little bit in this film.”
Following the completion of Lies We Tell, Mitu is in the middle of writing his next script – a semi horror story about reincarnation.
