The Birmingham Indian Film Festival returns for 11 days

The Birmingham Indian Film Festival (BIFF), part of Europe’s largest South Asian film festival, returns to the Midlands with an exciting 11-day program of screenings and events from 27 June to 7 July 2024 .

BIFF’s 2024 partners include mac Cinema & Theatre, Cineworld Broad Street, Mockingbird Cinema, Light Cinema, Walsall, BOM and Birmingham City University’s Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. The festival is supported by the BFI, funding the National Lottery and the main partner of the Bagri Foundation.

The festival includes Midland premiere screenings, a wide range of post-show discussions with directors and cast members, an internationally programmed film competition, an LGBTQIA+ film showcase and cutting-edge XR experiences. This year the festival is also excited to offer more BSL screenings than ever before.

The opening gala at the mac Theater is the Midlands premiere of US indie tear-jerker drama Paper Flowers, starring Deadpool’s Karan Soni and an outstanding young cast. Audiences will want to stay after the credits as the evening concludes with a post-show Q&A with director Mahesh Pailoor.

Audiences can expect a stunning special Midlands preview of ‘Lionsgate’s Kill’. Produced by Bollywood icon Karan Johar (“Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”) of Dharma Productions and Oscar-winning producer Guneet Monga (“The Elephant Whisperers”), this operatic action thriller will have viewers on the edge of their seats (think to John Wick on a train). The cinematic spectacle, which is Lionsgate’s first foray into South Asian cinema, will be screened at Cineworld Broad Street.

After launching the web series premieres last year, the festival is excited to air the first three episodes of the Canadian series ‘Late Bloomer’. Audiences will be among the first in the UK to see this hilarious and heartfelt comedy from social media star Jus Reign (Jasmeet Singh Raina), which follows the adventures of a young Sikh millennial who struggles to navigate the complexities of life while balance. its Eastern roots with Western ideals.

The festival is also proud to present two groundbreaking feminist plays, Sthal and Wakhri. The Marathi language film ‘Sthal’, which won one of the top awards at the Toronto International Film Festival, follows a young woman’s quest for education and empowerment. Through its subtle yet compelling storytelling, the film explores the importance of finding one’s voice and the struggles encountered along the road to freedom. Meanwhile, acclaimed director Iram Parveen Bilal presents Wakhri, a story inspired by real-life figures like Qandeel Baloch (Pakistan’s first social media celebrity). The heartwarming film tells the story of a teacher and mother whose progressive views catapulted her to overnight fame. Her newfound stardom sees her face a growing backlash as she faces the challenges of trying to raise a son in a patriarchal world.

The captivating line-up of documentaries promises a cinematic journey through the untold stories of South Asia. Parama: A Journey with Aparna Sen celebrates the trials and achievements of India’s greatest director, Aparna Sen, and provides a retrospective of her illustrious film career spanning six decades. Prepare to be inspired by the Midlands premiere of UK-India co-production Tight: The World of Indian Bodybuilding and immerse yourself in the world of Aji, a young South Indian bodybuilder trying to carve out his own niche in the ever-evolving landscape of competitive bodybuilding.

The festival’s feature program is full of innovative and unmissable films, including the award-winning Kannada-language Mithya and the Gujarati-language Shunya, which are both gentle yet powerful coming-of-age stories that follow child protagonists as they navigate a society rapidly changing. BIFF presents the Midlands premiere of British-made romantic comedy Before Nikkah, a charming story of Asian Brits meeting on a first date, inspired by Richard Linklater’s Before Sunrise.

The festival’s pioneering LGBTQIA+ film showcase, Too Desi Too Queer, returns with a new selection of innovative and thought-provoking queer films. From heartwarming love stories to inspiring documentaries, these eye-opening shorts celebrate and amplify the voices of queer South Asians.

The festival continues to support a new generation of emerging South Asian filmmakers through both the internationally-programmed Satyajit Ray Short Film Competition and New British-Asian Short Films. The competition, which was inspired by the humanist work of the legendary Indian filmmaker, offers five short films to be judged by a distinguished panel of judges, with the winner receiving a £1,000 cash prize sponsored by Civic Studios. Previous winners include Saim Sadiq, director of ‘Joyland’ and Shubhashish Bhutiani, director of ‘Hotel Salvation’. Birmingham talent is featured in New Brit-Asian Shorts featuring director Billy Dosanjh’s Lumbu as well as local actress Bharti Patel in Rajinder Kochar’s Rita Goes Viral.

The festival has evolved beyond film as it embraces a diverse range of moving images. This year, BIFF will continue its foray into immersive experiences with a South Asian XR exhibition curated by Birmingham-based Taran Singh, who helped create a 3D design of Commonwealth Games mascot Perry. This free event is a virtual world of South Asian stories and cutting edge XR experiences and will be held at BOM.

The Birmingham Indian Film Festival is expanding accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences with multiple BSL-interpreted Q&A screenings in all our cinemas.

Closing the festival at Lighthouse Cinema, Walsall is Queen of My Dreams, directed by Fawza Mirza and starring Amrit Kaur, Hamza Haq and Nimra Bucha. In this colorful and song-drenched film, young Pakistani Azra lives an alternative lifestyle with her white friend in Toronto, which is a world away from the traditional values ​​of her conservative Muslim mother.

Speaking about the growth of BIFF, CEO and Director of Programming Cary Rajinder Sawhney noted, “It is personally exciting to have such a talented team and innovative partners as BIFF continues to explore new frontiers of the South Asian XR scenes and to continue our mission to showcase and celebrate emerging and established filmmakers, diversifying our offering for Midlands audiences with continued support from Film Hub Midlands and Birmingham City University.”