The festival previews its first Bangladesh based film, SHONGRAM.
The London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) is upon us and what festival it is this year, full to the brim with incredible films for viewers to enjoy and appreciate.
DESIblitz.com is a proud media partner of this wonderful celebration of film and will be bringing you lots of coverage of the event throughout.
In association with Pure Heaven, the British Film Institute, and official Hotel Partner Grange Hotels, the festival will unveil rare and cutting-edge films from some of the Indian subcontinent’s hottest independent talents.
Going way beyond Bollywood, new films featured at LIFF will challenge, shock, generate debate and present a more realistic view of India and the subcontinent today, in all its diversity.
The festival will feature across London, opening in the West End at the historic Cineworld Haymarket, and continuing at BFI Southbank, Cineworld cinemas Wembley, Wood Green, Wandsworth, O2 in Royal Greenwich and ICA near the Pall Mall.
The fifth LIFF will feature SOLD as its opening night film. Executively produced by Oscar winning actor Emma Thompson, the film will have its red carpet European Premiere on July 10 2014.
SOLD is a powerful depiction of survival against the odds, playing out a tale of a young Nepali girl who is trafficked to Kolkata in India. Gillian Anderson (X-Files) stars with a great Indian and Nepali ensemble cast including Seema Biswas (Bandit Queen).
The Walt Disney Company’s US hit MILLION DOLLAR ARM which stars Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi), will have its UK Premiere at the festival.
Watch the exclusive gupshup with Cary Rajinder Sawhney, Festival Director, as he tells us more about LIFF and what the 2014 festival is all about:
Screen talks from Bollywood’s hot actor Farhan Akhtar and South Indian cinematography supremo Santosh Sivan will be given at the BFI Southbank.
Enthusiastically talking about the festival, Cary Rajinder Sawhney says:
“We are delighted that the festival is now firmly established on the London and international scene after five amazing years. If you want to find out more about South Asian cinema, come to London and soak yourself in a week of magnificent, world class cinema.”
On July 12, QISSA: TALE OF A LONELY GHOST, has its UK Premiere, Irrfan Khan (Slumdog Millionaire, Life of Pi) plays a rural Punjabi father hell bent on having a son and heir, no matter what the consequences.
As well as films in the Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam languages, and UK/Pakistani film Anima State, in Urdu; the festival previews its first Bangladesh based film SHONGRAM (Struggle) directed by Munsur Ali.
Closing the festival will be the World Premiere of HEMALKASA which stars Bollywood icon Nana Patekar. Directed by Samruddhi Porey, it’s guaranteed to make you cry and smile at the same time; paying homage to the revolutionary human rights leader Prakash Baba Amte.
London Indian Film Festival also includes industry events at BAFTA, exploring UK and Indian subcontinent co-productions. The winner of the annual Satyajit Ray Short Film Competition will be announced at the end of the festival, with short-listed contenders battling it out on July 15 at the ICA.
Here is the amazing programme of films and activities for the fifth annual LIFF 2014:
SOLD (English) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Showing: 10 & 12 July, 18:00, Cineworld Haymarket
Dir. Jeffrey D Brown with Gillian Anderson, Seema Biswas, David Arquette, Niyar Saikia, Tillotama Shome, Parambrata Chatterjee.
SANTOSH SIVAN MASTERCLASS | JULY 11
India’s most celebrated cinematographer and a successful director, whose credits include The Terrorist, Bride & Prejudice and Roja, delivers a rare masterclass at the British Film Institute.
QISSA: THE TALE OF A LONELY GHOST (Punjabi with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE
Showing: 12 July, 20:10, BFI Southbank | 13 July, 18:00, Cineworld Haymarket
Dir. Anup Singh with Irrfan Khan, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal. Q&A with Dir. Anup Singh.
MILLION DOLLAR ARM (English) | UK PREMIERE
Showing: 14 July, 18:15, Cineworld Shaftsbury Ave
Dir. Craig Gillespie with Jon Hamm, Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal, Lake Bell, Alan Arkin
FARHAN AKHTAR SCREEN TALK | JULY 16
The renaissance man of Indian entertainment, who acts, directs, writes, produces and sings discusses his storied career at the British Film Institute.
ANIMA STATE (Urdu with English subtitles) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Showing: 14 July, 18:15, Cineworld Haymarket | 15 July, 19:00, Cineworld o2
Dir. Hammad Khan with Uns Mufti, Malika Zafar, Osman Khalid Butt. Q&A with Dir. Hammad Khan.
APUR PANCHALI (APU’S SONG) (Bengali with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE
Showing: 13 July, 15:00, BFI Southbank | 14 July, 19:00, Cineworld Wembley
Dir. Kaushik Ganguly with Parambrata Chatterjee, Ardhendu Banerjee, Parno Mitra. Q&A with Dir. Kaushik Ganguly.
HANK AND ASHA (English) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Showing: 11 July, 18:30, ICA | 12 July, 20:00, Cineworld Wembley | 12 July, 20:20, ICA | 13 July, 18:00 Cineworld O2
Dir James E. Duff with Andrew Pastides, Mahira Kakkar. Q&A with Dir. James E Duff.
SHONGRAM (STRUGGLE) (Bangla with English subtitles) | WORLD PREMIERE
Showing: 14 July, 19:30, Cineworld O2 | 16 July, 20:30, Cineworld Shaftsbury Ave
Dir. Munsur Ali with Anupam Kher, Asia Argento, Amaan Reza, Dilruba Yasmeen Ruhee. Q&A with Dir. Munsur Ali and other special guests
AN AMERICAN IN MADRAS (English, Tamil, Hindi with English subtitles) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Showing: 15 July, 20:20, ICA | 16 July, 19:00, Cineworld Wandsworth
Dir. Karan Bali with Kamal Haasan, Radha Viswanathan, K. Hariharan. Q&A with Dir. Karan Bali.
SULEMANI KEEDA (WRITERS) (Hindi with English subtitles) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Showing: 11 July, 20:00, Cineworld Wembley | 12 July, 18:20, ICA
Dir. Amit V Masurkar with Naveen Kasturia, Mayank Tewari, Aditi Vasudev.
Q&A with Dir. Amit V Masurkar and producer Datta Dave is sponsored by DESIBlitz.com
ULIDAVARU KANDANTHE (AS SEEN BY THE REST) (Kannada with English subtitles) | INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
Showing: 12 July, 18:00, Cineworld Wandsworth | 13 July, 17:30, ICA
Dir. Rakshit Shetty with Rakshit Shetty, Kishore, Tara.
GOOPI GAWAIYA BAGHA BAJAIYA (Hindi with English subtitles) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Showing: 12 July, 15:00, Cineworld Wood Green | 13 July, 16:00, ICA
Dir. Shilpa Ranade with voices of Manish Bhawan, Shailendra Pande, Rajeev Raj.
KANYAKA TALKIES (VIRGIN TALKIES) (Malayalam with English subtitles) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Showing: 13 July, 16:00, Cineworld Wandsworth | 16 July, 18:15, ICA
Dir. K.R. Manoj with Murali Gopy, Lena Kumar, Indrans, Manianpilla Raju.
BAREFOOT TO GOA (Hindi with English subtitles) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Showing: 11 July, 19:00, Cineworld Wandsworth | 12 July, 18:00, Cineworld Wembley | 13 July, 15:00, ICA | 14 July, 19:00, Cineworld Wood Green
Dir. Praveen Morchhale with Purva Parag, Farrukh Jaffar, Saara Nahar.
ILAI (LEAF) (Tamil with English subtitles) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Showing: 11 July, 19:00, Cineworld Wood Green | 15 July, 18:15, Cineworld Shaftsbury Ave
Dir. Rajiv Reddy Pochareddy with Manjula Odanadi, Pritham Charavarthy, Mighty Gibson.
HEMALKASA WORLD PREMIERE (Hindi with English subtitle) | CLOSING NIGHT
Showing: 17 July, 18:00, Cineworld Haymarket
Dir. Samruddhi Porey with Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni, Mohan Agashe.
LIFF 2014 promises to be an amazing experience of film and cinema and with the line-up presented, there is a feast of cinema which you will not see anywhere else in one place, the place to be, London, UK, attending the much awaited London Indian Film Festival.
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