Indian film festival returns to the West Midlands
The acclaimed Birmingham Indian Film Festival is returning this week and has announced its festival programme - and all films will be shown with English subtitles.
People can experience the magic of the cinema from June 24 to July 5, with screenings at the MAC, The Electric, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
Europe's largest platform of South Asian independent films - along with its counterparts in London and Manchester - will include the world premiere of the highly anticipated thriller Dobaaraa, directed by Anurag Kashyap and starring award winning actress Taapsee Pannu.
The opening night red carpet screening at MAC Birmingham will be attended by Anurag Kashyap followed by a Q&A.
Festival director, Cary Rajinder Sawhney MBE, said: “It’s wonderful to have director Anurag Kashyap return to the festival with supernatural thriller DOBAARAA following his visit to the city in 2019.
“We have UK premiered a number of Anurag’s films over the last 12 years - including That Girl in Yellow Boots and Gangs of Wasseypur. Anurag delivers yet another fresh directorial approach and a compelling twisted story and actor Taapsee Pannu steals the show as a young woman trapped between two lives in different decades.
“We are delighted at the exceptionally strong cavalcade of exciting new Midland premieres at this year’s festival in ten different languages and some very rare in-person talks and Q&As headlined by India’s greatest woman filmmaker Aparna Sen.”
The programme this year puts female filmmakers at the forefront, including the European premiere of The Rapist starring Konkana Sen Sharma and Arjun Rampal.
There are also films with ecological and climate themes, and there is a programme of LGBTQIA+ films.
The festival is sponsored by title sponsor Blue Orchid Hotels, as well as Integrity International, the BFI (awarding National Lottery funding), Arts Council England and Birmingham City University.
For booking details and to see the full programme, go to birminghamindianfilmfestival.co.uk.
