Midland premieres for Birmingham Indian Film Festival

Celebration of South Asian culture and history.

Birmingham Indian Film Festival is a cinematic treasure trove of carefully curated premieres of South Asian independent films, offering rare glimpses into some of the billion-plus lives in the sub-continent.

The festival is presented by the Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival and returns for its fourth consecutive year at Cineworld Broad Street, mac Birmingham and The Mockingbird Cinema & Kitchen from Friday 22nd June to Sunday 1st July.

Audiences can expect a spectacular ten days of Midland premieres of feature films, documentaries and shorts exploring a compelling slate of controversial, entertaining and thought-provoking themes with global resonances, plus lively Q&As and panel debates.

New to this year is the annual LIFF Satyajit Ray Short Film Competition Entries, showcasing the work of emerging film makers.

Festival director Cary Rajinder Sawhney says: “One great thing about being in the UK and especially London is that we are culturally intertwined to India and South Asia, not just through our shared history but our living, everyday experience where South Asian communities add so much to UK cultural life, of which cinema is an important aspect. This cutting-edge festival showcases indie cinema that entertains but shows the more realistic and sometimes the raw side of South Asian culture but, at the same time, there are always stories of comedy, hope and the un-exhaustible energy of over 1.3 billion South Asian lives from the Indian subcontinent.”
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Indian cinema expert and Professor of Cultural Studies and Creative Industries at Birmingham City University’s School of Media, Rajinder Dudrah, added: “Birmingham City University is delighted to be a headline sponsor of this year’s Birmingham Indian Film Festival and join in the celebrations of South Asian history, heritage, arts and culture. The ten-day event will feature a host of inspirational films created by some of the finest creative professionals. We look forward to the films being showcased to generate discussion as well as to entertain.”

Cineworld Broad Street, mac Birmingham and The Mockingbird Cinema & Kitchen will all host the festival. Tickets can be purchased directly from the cinemas and fetails can be found at www.birminghamindianfilmfestival.co.uk