Birmingham is a city with a rich history and culture, home to a large and diverse population from all over the world, particularly India. A vibrant expression of the British-Indian identity can be seen in their cinema, which is instantly recognisable. These films stand out with their distinctive artistic style, storytelling, unique special effects, and a particular way of highlighting key moments. They are always dynamic, colourful, with gripping plots, fantastic music, and often spectacular dance sequences. You can find out more on birminghamski.
Indian films hold a prominent place in global cinema and are some of the most popular in the world, with box office takings sometimes even surpassing Hollywood blockbusters.
In 2015, members of the local diaspora launched the first-ever Indian Film Festival in Birmingham. It’s an offshoot of the largest South Asian film festival in Europe, which was founded in London in 2010. The Birmingham event has quickly become one of the city’s most exciting cultural happenings.
Festival Structure
The festival showcases a wide range of genres, from traditional melodramas and blockbusters to arthouse cinema, featuring feature films, shorts, animations, and documentaries. With its international status, the festival draws filmmakers and cinephiles from across the globe to Birmingham. The event typically runs for 10 days and includes red carpet ceremonies for both the opening and closing nights.
The programme includes both competitive screenings and non-competitive events such as premieres and retrospectives. The number of Indian films presented at the 2023 festival was staggering, reaching a total of 200. All films are shown in their original languages, including English and Hindi, and are accompanied by subtitles.
Special events are a key feature of the festival, including seminars, workshops, and lively Q&A sessions with directors, actors, and other members of the production crews. Attendees can also network with students and lecturers from film schools, attend industry forums to discuss the latest developments in filmmaking, and enjoy concerts, exhibitions, and parties.
Organisers and Volunteers
The team behind the Birmingham Indian Film Festival consists of 30 people, including the head of the festival, directors, producers, marketers, PR specialists, and designers. They work tirelessly throughout the year to ensure a flawless and packed 10-day event. To manage 200 film screenings, host events, accommodate and assist guests, and provide interpreters, they rely heavily on volunteers. A special group of volunteers are students from the Birmingham School of Media, who are tasked with providing media coverage and communications to ensure the event gets the attention it deserves.
These students are responsible for distributing flyers, taking photos for newspapers and magazines like “Variety,” and creating audio, video, and editing content on the red carpet. They also record interviews, capture crowd reactions, and much more. All the volunteers are thrilled to be part of such a fantastic cultural event, gaining practical experience and showing off their skills.
Highlights from the 2023 Birmingham Festival
The opening ceremony featured the thrilling spy thriller, “Berlin,” by director and writer Atul Sabharwal. The story is set in Delhi in the early 1990s, where India’s security services are vying for an advantage ahead of the Russian president’s visit. The main character is a young sign language teacher who is asked to be an interpreter during the interrogation of a spy suspect. He unexpectedly uncovers secret information, becoming entangled in a brutal “political game” that could lead to the assassination of a special service chief. The film sparked a lively debate among both audiences and critics.
Another festival highlight was “Padatik” from the popular Bengali director Srijit Mukherji, which was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of one of India’s greatest directors, Mrinal Sen. Sen directed films in the Bengali language and helped pioneer the “New Wave” of Indian cinema in the early 1950s. Mrinal Sen’s films were known for their realism and always addressed pressing social issues. The biographical film “Padatik” tells the difficult story of the director’s career, his political struggles, and his social stance against the caste hierarchy.
The festival’s new retrospective programme, “Death by any means,” which celebrates the funniest, scariest, and strangest films, included a few standout movies. “Kandukondain Kandukondain” from 2000 is a cinematic adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel “Sense and Sensibility” about two sisters with different personalities searching for love.
The film is filled with picturesque landscapes of Egypt and Scotland and features songs with music from the renowned Indian composer A. R. Rahman. The 2012 film “Eega” tells a story of reincarnation and revenge. A young man falls in love with a girl, but a jealous rival kills him. However, the man is reborn as a fly, joins forces with the soul of his beloved, and turns the villain’s life into a living hell. The compelling plot, incredible action, and superb acting had the audience applauding in amazement. For Halloween, horror fans were treated to the first Indian zombie comedy, “Go Goa Gone” from 2013.
The film follows a group of young people who travel to Goa for a wild party hosted by the Russian mafia, but drinking strange concoctions turns the partygoers into zombies. In the ten years since its release, the film has become a cult classic, with screenings always selling out.
A special event at the festival was the 2022 neo-noir social thriller “Privacy,” which tackles the issue of private life. An ambitious female police officer tries to solve a burglary case but ignores the protocol for using video surveillance. As she delves deeper into the investigation, she becomes obsessed and cannot stop herself from invading private lives, which eventually puts her own life at risk.
Festival Awards
A highly qualified panel of judges from various sectors of the film industry is invited to evaluate the competitive entries. The festival culminates in a gala awards ceremony where the winners are announced. The Birmingham Indian Film Festival is known for being generous with its awards, offering over 30 in various categories. The traditional awards include: Best Film, Best Documentary, Best Short Film, Best Animated Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Costume, Best Cinematography, and more. Unique to this festival are additional awards for Best Short Film under 5 minutes, Best Short TV Film, and Best Screenplay for all short-form films. Special awards also include prizes for Best Student Film, Best Debut Film, Best Visual Effects, Best Performance by an Actor or Actress under 18, and others.
The Birmingham Indian Film Festival is supported by Film Hub Midlands, MAC Birmingham and The Electric cinemas, the University of Birmingham, the Consulate General of India in Birmingham, and other partners.
Indian cinema is a brilliant phenomenon that captivates with its beauty, emotion, and positive energy. Almost everyone who has ever immersed themselves in the incredible atmosphere of the Birmingham film festival inevitably becomes a fan of this extraordinary art form.