This year marks the festival’s fifth anniversary, showcasing a rich assortment of entertaining and thought-provoking independent films that have been winning awards and making global impact, including India’s new wave of LGBTQ+ films.

The Festival is presented by the Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival which is celebrating its own tenth anniversary and is extending to Manchester and Bradford.

Birmingham Indian Film Festival will run across the city for eleven days at existing partner venues: Cineworld Broad Street; MAC Birmingham, Cannon Hill Park; and The Mockingbird Cinema and Kitchen, Custard Factory. This year they also welcome new partner venue Centrala, based in Digbeth.

Cary Rajinder Sawhney, Executive & Programming Director of the festival said: “The Festival has dynamically opened the UK 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 Midland premieres, rarely seen archival masterpieces, and some seriously cutting-edge dramas and documentaries.”

The fifth anniversary celebrations will open with a sparkling red-carpet event at Cineworld Broad Street, for the Birmingham Premiere of the hard-hitting Article 15, starring India’s hottest male star Ayushmann Khurrana, ahead of its UK and worldwide release later in the month.

Cary continued “We are very proud that the Festival is in its fifth year and building a new cinema audience in Birmingham. Over 70% of those surveyed during the 2018 festival were new visitors to Cineworld, MAC Birmingham and The Mockingbird cinemas combined. The festival also saw an increase in understanding of South Asian cinema for over 90% of audiences, with 56% first time attendees. It’s also very exciting that the films shown last year were supported by diverse audiences from across all communities in the city.”

Professor Rajinder Dudrah, Indian cinema expert and Professor of Cultural Studies and Creative Industries at Birmingham City University’s School of Media, said: “Birmingham City University is delighted to once again be a headline sponsor of such an important and inspiring event as it marks its 5th year in the city. Birmingham Indian Film Festival is a real celebration of the vibrancy of independent cinema, heritage and culture of South Asia. As a city with such strong links with India, Birmingham is the perfect place for the Festival to be held and we are proud that the University will be involved.”