Movies thatPack a 21 June JulyPunch - 01 2019 www.birminghamindianfilmfestival.co.uk Artist Cary Burman. Photo by Chila Rajinder Sawhney Kumari Celebrating our 5th Birthday, Birmingham Indian Film Festival which is part of the UK and Europe’s largest South Asian film festival is literally stuffed to the rafters with a rich assortment of entertaining and thought provoking independent films. This year’s highlights include Our Film, Power & Politics strand offers a red carpet opening night at a critical insight into the fast moving Cineworld Broad Street with the political changes of South Asia. The exciting premiere of cop whodunit astonishing documentary Reason by Article 15, starring Bollywood star Anand Patwardhan, Bangla suspense READYTO LAUNCH YOUR CAREER Ayushmann Khurrana and directed Saturday Afternoon and Gandhian by Anubhav Sinha. Our closing night black comedy #Gadhvi are a few films IN THE FILM INDUSTRY marks the return of Ritesh Batra, the to look out for. director of The Lunchbox with the premiere of Photograph starring the We are expecting a host of special MA Feature Film Development and legendary Nawazuddin Siddiqui and guests, including India’s most famous Sanya Malhotra. indie director Anurag Kashyap of MA Film Distribution and Marketing Sacred Games fame. Make sure you buy Our themes this year include the Young your tickets in advance for this one! Now open for applications Rebel strand which literally knocks out www.bcu.ac.uk/nti/courses all the stereotypes with a fist of movies We are delighted to welcome back our exploring younger lives. See director regular partners including Birmingham Rima Das’ award-winning teenage hit City University and welcome our new Bulbul Can Sing. Beautiful and uplifting hotel partner, Malmaison Birmingham. tale, Chuskit based on a true story and Thanks to the BFI Audience Fund and Kattumaram premieres, presenting to our many friends and supporters. young lives taking a stand. More guests will be confirmed Dive deep into our Extra-Ordinary Lives soon so please do check out the strand with amazing documentaries festival website for updates www. and dramas from across South Asia. birminghamindianfilmfestival.co.uk We present charming award-winning or hit @weLoveBIFF #weLoveBIFF FB: romance Sir. Don’t miss tense Kannada Birmingham Indian Film Festival. whodunnit Arishadvarga, or the unforgettably feel-good My Home India Buy tickets via booking links on our and catch Bengal legendary director website, or directly at partner cinemas. Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s magic realist film, The Flight. We look forward to seeing you there! Cary Rajinder Sawhney Executive & Programming Director 3 MAJOR SPONSOR FUNDED BY PARTNER VENUES SPONSORS MEDIA PARTNER VIDEO PARTNER COVERED BY Patrons : Shekhar Kapur, Tony Matharu, Lord David Puttnam, Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Thanks to Toki Allison, Saqib Batti, James Anderson Brown, Alka Bagri, David Baldwin, George SUPPORTERS Barker, Shyam Benegal, Paul Bowman, Sindy Campbell, Mr S M Chakraborty, Anne Cockitt, Jon Cox, Stuart Crane, Uma da Cunha, Helen Baker, Alper Dervish, Dr Rajinder Dudrah, Dr Rachel Dwyer, CONSULATE Paul Faulkner, Sima Gonsai, Damian Goom, Gaylene Gould, Ian Francis, Alison Grade, Michael GENERAL OF INDIA Gubbins, Latif Hussain, Shaista Hussain, Francesca Jones, Simon Jones, Alicja Kaczmarek, Lee Kemp, Birmingham Deborah Kermode, Anjum Khan, Sabra Khan, Haseena Lockhat, Heather Maclaurin, Qasim Majid, Sarah-Jane Meredith, Sara Middleton, Bhavna Mistry, Lee Nabbs, Asjad Nazir, Dr Aman Puri, Simi Obra, Khakan Qureshi, Andy Rae, Sridhar Rangayan, Piali Ray, Richard Short, Amy Smart, Stephanie Taylor, Aziz Zeria 4 5 OPENING NIGHT GALA CLOSING NIGHT GALA ARTICLE 15 PREMIERE PHOTOGRAPH PREMIERE 21 June | 19:00 | CINEWORLD BROAD STREET 1 July | 19:00 | MAC BIRMINGHAM RED CARPET FROM 18:30 We are delighted to open our 5th birthday celebrations with the premiere of Anubhav Cannes hit The Lunchbox took the world by storm with box office success in all Sinha’s hard-hitting Article 15. India’s hottest male star Ayushmann Khurrana territories. Its director Ritesh Batra returns to the big screen with this nuanced romance (Andhadhun, Badhaai Ho) plays a police officer from a privileged urban background, between unlikely lovers. Acting legend Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays Rafi, a humble street whose first posting is to rural north India, where three teenage girls have gone photographer outside the Gateway of India, Mumbai. He photographs an attractive missing. His honesty does not sit well with the existing, deeply entrenched corrupt young wealthy woman Miloni, who disappears without paying. Keeping her photo, system where, in 2019, a 1000-year-old practice where human beings are divided on he tries to fob off his marriage-peddling granny by sending her the photo to show his the basis of caste continues. Beginning as a riveting police procedural that is a True success, but impressed, she is soon heading to Mumbai to meet the marriage prospect. Detective-like deep-dive into the Indian bayou, Article 15 soon elevates to a gutsy Rafi manages to track down Miloni and convince her to pretend to be his fiancée, and, exposé of a deeply flawed structure. The film’s title is a reference to an article partly intrigued by rough diamond Rafi’s request and partly because she’s looking for of the Indian constitution that prohibits discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, something extraordinary, she agrees. race or sex. Special guests expected. Hindi, English with English subtitles. Hindi, Gujarati, English with English subtitles India 2019 | 120 Mins India/Germany/US 2019 | 110 Mins Director: Ritesh Batra Dir: Anubhav Sinha With: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Geetanjali Kulkarni, Farrukh Jaffar With: Ayushmann Khurrana, Sayani Gupta, Isha Talwar, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra Q&A with Director Anubhav Sinha, cast and crew 6 7 SPECIAL EVENT FILMMAKER CONVERSATIONS ARDAAS KARAAN PREMIERE ANURAG KASHYAP 29 June | 19:00 | CINEWORLD BROAD STREET SCREEN TALK 26 June | 19:00 | THE MOCKINGBIRD Following the mega success of Ardaas, we revisit the story of three elderly men The Martin Scorsese of India. A rare chance to hear the experiences of India’s most who live in Canada with their families, realising that each generation has a different famed cult director. Anurag Kashyap is a unique talent and is India’s best-known conflicting opinion about life. The elderly men believe spending time with each other filmmaker on the global festival circuit. His Netflix seriesSacred Games was a global and communicating may help bridge their gap. But each time the family plans to spend smash hit and is set for season 2. He flits across genres, ranging from edgy, provocative time with each other they end up arguing. One day the elderly gentlemen come across fare like Dev. D, Ugly, Raman Raghav 2.0 to the two-part Godfather-like rural gangland Sehaj and Magic who are full of positivity and agree to help them understand their epic Gangs Of Wasseypur, the political punch of Gulaal and Black Friday, and the families but are given a week to accomplish this. Will Sehaj and Magic manage to find unusual love stories Manmarziyaan and Mukkabaaz. Known for his outspoken nature, a common thread for the three differing generations to live together in harmony? How Kashyap pulls no punches on stage, and his deep insights on cinema are valued will they use Ardaas (prayer) to convey their message about life? around the world. Punjabi with English subtitles India 2019 | 140 Mins Director: Gippy Grewal With: Gippy Grewal, Mehar Vij, Gurpreet Ghuggi Q&A with Star and Director Gippy Grewal 8 9 PREMIERE EUROPEAN PREMIERE BULBUL CAN SING CHUSKIT KATTUMARAM YOUNG (CATAMARAN) REBEL 27 June | 18:00 | MAC BIRMINGHAM 29 June | 16:00 | THE MOCKINGBIRD 29 June | 13:30 | MAC BIRMINGHAM Young people challenge and change the world with fresh ideas and open hearts. We present a fist of films that depict young South Asians, some Assamese director Rima Das returns Based on a true story in the mountains of Part of an emerging queer cinema from are joyous and laugh- to BIFF with this groundbreaking Ladakh, we meet Chuskit - a joyous and South India Kattumaram tells of patriarch out-loud while others coming-of-age tale that has swept up strong-minded young girl whose dreams Singaram and his orphaned niece present youth facing prestigious awards at the Berlin, Dublin, of going to school are cut short after an Anandhi, fisher-folk survivors of the real-life challenges in Singapore and Mumbai film festivals. accident leaves her unable to walk. While Tsunami. Beautiful Anandhi teaches in South Asia today. Three teenage best friends in rural Assam, her friends start school she is confined to the local school and has many fishermen northeast India, are forging their distinct life indoors in the company of her strict interested in her, but Anandhi instead personalities, but as the girls secretly grandfather, Dorje, who is adamant she secretly falls for a new female supply teacher. As Singaram finds out and tries to meet boys, they soon come face to face must stay at home. As her battle with come to terms with this revelation, gossip with outmoded cultural traditions that her grandfather intensifies and Chuskit’s about the young women’s relationship challenge their family and place in the hopes are getting crushed the family quickly spreads. Singaram is left facing community, but most importantly their decides on a dramatic path of change. the choice of either defending his beloved bonds as loyal friends. Rima Das made a niece