Birmingham Indian Film Festival 2023 - Dan Auluk

26th Oct – 5th Nov

Birmingham Indian Film Festival (BIFF) will kick off the Launch Event of a European premiere of a whodunnit, fast paced espionage drama titled Berlin, starring Aparshakti Khurana, Kabir Bedi. Berlin is labelled as “Probably the most cleverly constructed Indian film of 2023.” The Launch event will take place at mac, Birmingham on Thursday 26th October and I look forward to the opening speech from Dharmesh Rajput (Deputy Director & Head of Birmingham Indian Film Festival), about the current festival, beyond and hope for the future. Also, always great to see the diversity of South Asian audiences and filmmakers.

As a new writer and filmmaker and someone who loves film, I always look forward to seeing the breadth and depth of diversity beyond the heteronormative/male gaze and how lives of those that are marginalised are portrayed, further reducing barriers that exist. I am particularly looking forward to Runs In The Family (The Light cinema, Walsall https://walsall.thelight.co.uk/runs-in-the-family-plus-qas), a story about Varun (Ace Bhatti) and his transgender son River (Gabe Gabriel) who take a road trip from Durban to Eswatini to rescue River’s estranged mother, labelled as a heart-warming, laugh-out-loud, heartfelt dialogue and extravagant drag performances as well as seeing the cinematography of the back drop of South Africa. Being transported to far-away lands always give a sense of wonder and curiosity to us all.

As someone who is working on their first narrative short film, I am always impressed with the short film selection BIFF make and this year looks as diverse as ever. For emerging filmmakers and Q&As, check BIFF’s ground- breaking Brit-Asian Shorts and Satyajit Ray Short Film Competition. New Brit Asian Shorts will showcase 6 six short films. F.O.G - a mother-daughter relationship and family ties within a Sikh culture; Bona Vacantia – looking at grief, anticipatory grief and fear of dying; Queen Of Diamonds – two characters discuss their relationship for the very last time; I Carry It With Me Everywhere - explores lives of two migrants living in London and wider issues faced by ‘people of colour’; All The Lights Still Burning – a film about rekindled queer romance set in Bradford; Now And Then – a film about discovering secrets, obsession and trauma of the past.

This year BIFF has extended its reach and included artist film and XR storytellers, with the work of Sahjan Kooner at Eastside Projects. “For the tech aficionados, we have VR debates in Birmingham celebrating British Asian XR Storytellers plus an exciting immersive exhibition by the inventive Sahjan Kooner : dankEconogy1_ ALIENVillage. Sahjan has been working across the last 18 months developing this multi-stranded project through workshops and collaborations with artists, their mom, technologists, bioscientists, school children, communities with Punjabi heritage, ceramicists and Eastside Projects. dankEconogy1_ALIENVillage will arrive online and in Eastside Projects’ main gallery on 6 October 2023, and travel to Kunsthal Gent in Belgium in early 2024.” ALIENVillage is co-commissioned by Eastside Projects, Kunsthal Gent, and UP Projects and supported by Arts Council England and the Henry Moore Foundation. https://eastsideprojects.org/projects/alienvillage/

There are also other treats to see too. There is lots of choice. Remember we have not only Birmingham, but we have London, Manchester and Yorkshire Indian Film Festival too. Thanks to Cary Rajinder Sawhney (Executive & Programming Director) and his team and not forgetting the friendly and amazing volunteers, contributors and partners (MAC at Cannon Hill Park, The Mockingbird Cinema at The Custard Factory, Cineworld Broad Street, BCU STEAMhouse and Eastside Projects and, new to this year's Festival, Light Cinema, Walsall.), that make these events happen. South Asian heritage filmmaking and stories, from our rich culture, is expanding and the momentum to new approaches to filmmaking and showcasing are continuing.

Between the opening and closing events there is so much to see. Death By Any Means is the new action strand to the event. So if you’re a fan of Bengali cinema, don’t miss the highly- anticipated biopic, Padatik, celebrating seminal Bengali director Mrinal Sen, directed by Srijit Mukherji – it is billed as “I dare you not to well up watching this one!” – sound intense and compelling. There is horror from Oscar Winner (Best original song for RRR) S.S. Rajamouli film The Fly – billed as a ‘a creepy reincarnation vengeance flick’ and did someone say Zombies comedy -yes please! – with the film Go Goa Gone. They are both showing on UK screens for the first time. What a treat!

Let’s not forget, the ‘Extra-Ordinary Lives’ strand that has a range of premieres from the stunning noir film Privacy, which tells the story of a big city surveillance cop who goes off the rails (Rajshri Deshpande), to the moving character drama, Joram, about a father on the run, starring London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) alums Manoj Bajpayee and Tannishtha Chatterjee.

Young Rebels strand is back, with a breath of fresh queer air. Further to the the wildly camp South African road trip movie Runs In The Family - think The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, with television star Ace Bhatti; we also have the British Bangladeshi rite-of-passage tale, A House Named Shahana, a divorces who defies social stigma to live life on her own terms.

I am also excited to visit the closing event. Anurag Kashyap’s (billed at ‘The Tarantino of India’) serial killer thriller, Kennedy, which received a standing ovation at Cannes, will be closing the show.

It’s also good to know BIFF cinema is more accessible to audiences who are deaf and hearing-impaired, the festival will be offering an increased number of screenings with BSL-interpreted Q&As. Over the last few years, I have worked with a Playwright who has severe vision impairment and relies on audio description performances. I’m hoping there will be capacity for this to be incorporated to include all audiences in the future. There is also content on the BFI player so hopefully some of this will include audio description and plus anyone isolated and/or unable to attend will have chance to watch films in the comfort of their safe space.

I’m looking forward to what BIFF has to offer starting tonight with the launch event at mac, Birmingham. It’s also exciting to know we the Indian film festival is also in London (LIFF), Manchester (MIFF) and Yorkshire (YIFF’s first) too.

See the festival guide for more info https://birminghamindianfilmfestival.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/BIFF2023_Brochure_09-1.pdf