LIFF will showcase the Pakistani American film AMERICANISH. Image: Karen Lane/BIFF

The World Premiere of critically acclaimed South Asian films, conversations with acclaimed directors, cutting-edge documentaries, and retrospectives & Asian music events, are set to take place for the London Indian Film Festival.

Supported by title sponsor Blue Orchid Hotels, Integrity International, the BFI, Bagri Foundation and the Arts Council of England, the festival brings you the best new Indian & South Asian independent cinema.

Set to begin on 23 June, at BFI Southbank, with the world premiere of the highly anticipated thriller ‘Dobaaraa’, an upcoming Indian Hindi-language mystery drama film directed by the acclaimed director Anurag Kashyap and produced by Shobha Kapoor & Bollywood Ekta R Kapoor.

The film stars the award-winning actress Taapsee Pannu and will be followed by a Q&A by Kashyap.

The Film Festival will span over 11 days from 23 June till 3 July, with a selection of the programme available on BFI Player and the LoveLiffatHome Online Player.

Festival Director Cary Rajinder Sawhney MBE says “It’s wonderful to have director Anurag Kashyap return to the festival with the supernatural thriller Dobaaraa… and some very rare in-person talks headlined by India’s greatest woman filmmaker Aparna Sen”.
Female filmmakers will be at the forefront of this year’s festival including the European premiere of The Rapist, starring Konkana Sen Sharma, who will also be in attendance and Arjun Rampal.
The screening of the powerful, award-winning film will be followed by a Q&A with its director Aparna Sen, India’s most prolific female filmmaker.

Cultures collide in selections from the diaspora including British Indian comedy Little English, and the Pakistani American film Americanish from the US.

Among other U.K. premieres is Pan Nalin’s uplifting homage to celluloidChellow Show and Anik Dutta’sAparajito, which is a tribute to legendary director Satyajit Ray’s journey of making his first film, the cult classic ‘Pather Panchali’.

An intimate look at modern-day Calcutta, Once Upon a Time in Calcutta, by Aditya Vikram Sengupta, also features in the festival line-up, set against a score by Academy Award-winning AR Rahman, who is also Executive Producer of No Land’s Man, which stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, as a man dealing with the complexities of identity.

Additional shorts categories include hit LGBTQIA+ programme Too Desi Too Queer, the films of Mumbai queer pioneer filmmaker Riyad Vinci Wadia, new British Asian emerging filmmakers and shorts competing in the festival’s annual Satyajit Ray’s Short Film Competition.

Festival Dates Per City Breakdown:

London: 23 June – 3 July

Birmingham: 24 June – 5 July

Manchester: 26 June – 6 July