The 10thanniversary of the UK and Europe’s largest South Asian film festival, supported by the Bagri Foundation and the BFI will run from 20th June to 8th July across five UK cities, and will continue to showcase a rich assortment of entertaining and thought provoking independent cinema, including India’s new wave of LGBTQ+ films.
The 10th birthday celebrations open with the World Premiere of Anubhav Sinha’s hard-hitting Article 15. India’s one of the hottest male star Ayushmann Khurrana (Andhadhun, Badhaai Ho) plays a police officer from a privileged urban, international, background, whose very first posting is to rural north India, where three teenage girls have gone missing.
The closing night at the prestigious BFI Southbank will include the long-awaited return of Ritesh Batra, with the English premiere of Photograph, starring legendary actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and the star of 2018 Bollywood hit Badhaai Ho, Sanya Malhotra.
The festival will also highlight Bengal's unique contributions to Indian and world cinema. Films focussing on present day young lives will also be featured, for eg Coming-of-age comedy The Lift Boy.
True to the festival’s mission there will be film screening about real people’s stories as well as critical fillms on power and politics.
Special guest appearances at the festival will include Anurag Kashyap, who has grabbed headlines with Sacred Games and Gangs of Wasseypur (our 2012 opening night film). Radhika Apte, star of our 2016 opening night film Parched, the much talked about Padman, and the global success Andhadhun, is due for a special event, based on her stellar work with Netflix, and hit films with Superstar Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar.
Cary Rajinder Sawhney, Executive & Programming Director of the festival said, “From the perspective of our 10th Birthday the festival has dynamically opened the UK mainstream media and audiences to Indian and South Asian independent cinema in all its linguistic diversity and that’s something we are extremely proud of. Punching above our weight as always, this year is probably our strongest programme ever with exciting world premieres, rarely seen archival masterpieces, and some seriously cutting-edge dramas and documentaries, in 23 venues across 5 UK cities and towns. We invite you to immerse yourself into the cinema of a billion lives.”
Alka Bagri, trustee of the Bagri Foundation said, “We are delighted to join LIFF in celebrating its tenth anniversary of showcasing the best in South Asian independent cinema! 2019 significantly marks five years of our support enabling filmmakers to show the diversity and vibrancy of the sub continent. We look forward to sharing with you a fantastic programme championing women filmmakers, emerging cinematic voices and Bengal’s unique contribution to cinema.”
