It's that time of the year when South Asian movie lovers in London and Birmingham try to make the most of their passion by viewing the best award-winning films, attending discussion-sessions with key television personalities and watch movies by new and exciting directors. The Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival, will be showcasing their 8th edition events at 11 cinemas across London, including the BFI Southbank from 22-29 June, promising to bring in a new and exciting selection of fabulous cutting-edge films that reaffirm the festival’s position as the ‘punk-rock of Indian cinema’.
The festival opens on 22nd June at the BFI Southbank with the red carpet premiere of the historical epic, The Black Prince by Kavi Raz. This powerful UK-produced film was launched at Cannes, and stars Indian music singer Satinder Sartaaj, iconic actress Shabana Azmi (The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Fire), Jason Flemyng (Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and Amanda Root (Jane Eyre). The film dramatises the little-known story of the last King of Punjab who was abducted by the British Raj to be mentored by Queen Victoria.
Cary Sawhney, the Festival Director told Asian Voice, “We'll be having one of the first screenings in the UK for a few of these films. Every year we seem to be getting closer to the Cannes or Berlin releases, which means we are getting these films in our festival closer to six months down the line, rather than a year or so.”
Back into the 21st Century for the closing night, on 29th June, BFI Southbank rocks again with the surreal Malayalam road-movie thriller Sexy Durga set in Kerala, directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, which this year won the prestigious Tiger Award for best film at Rotterdam. A tale of a hitch-hiking couple accidentally getting into the car of deranged gangsters and trying to escape a road to hell.
“The LIFF films will be going to Leicester (Square) in London this year - it's a big step for us. Leicester is the heartland of top cinemas and that's quite exciting,” said Cary. In another statement Cary said: “This year's selection includes premieres of new comedies, gripping thrillers, shocking horror and insightful true life documentaries as well as bringing together UK previews of major award-winning films from the world's greatest film festivals."
The award-winning films screening at BFI Southbank, Cineworld and Picturehouse cinemas:
- Moving Cannes prize-winning documentary, The Cinema Travellers (Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya, 2016)
- Berlin 2017 award-winner Newton (Amit Masurkar, 2017)
- Venice’s Interfilm award recipient White Sun (Deepak Rauniyar, 2016).
- Venice prize-winning film Hotel Salvation (Shubhashish Bhutiani, 2016), which the BFI will also release theatrically in the UK, in the Autumn.
Many films will be followed by live filmmaker Q&As. Special guests will include:
- Legendary Oscar nominated director of Lagaan, Ashutosh Gowariker, in conversation, and British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted, plus a chance to see his Bollywood epic Jodhaa Akbar (2008) on the big screen.
- Seminal British Asian activist and director Pratibha Parmar will discuss her early films and the pioneering Shakti LGBTQ+ movement.
- Master film maker and BFI London Film Festival Sutherland award winner Adoor Gopalakrishnan will attend a preview of his latest film Once Again (2016).
The festival also takes place in Birmingham for a third year, with a rebrand as the Birmingham Indian Film Festival, from 23 June-2nd July, marking the Festival’s permanent commitment to the region. Screenings will take place at Midlands Arts Centre mac, Cineworld Broad Street and The Mockingbird. The festival will show highlights of the London programme including opening night with The Black Prince and closing night with Sexy Durga. The Birmingham programme is in partnership with the citywide USTAV Festival of South Asian culture.
“Birmingham people are saying that its too much imperialism from London to have a London Indian Film Festival in Birmingham. They want to see their own identity,” laughed Cary, but for all serious film-lovers, this is an event not to miss especially since it is the biggest South Asian film festival in Europe, and the Programme and Festival Directors spend the entire year planning and researching for the event. Following the festival, selected LIFF films will be made available on the BFI’s VOD service, BFI Player. For more, visit www.londonindianfilmfestival.co.uk
