INDEPENDENT FILMS from India have got a showcase in Britain with a new film festival.
The London Indian Film Festival, which was launched on Thursday evening, is showcasing independent cinema and started with controversial film, Love Sex Aur Dhokha, directed by acclaimed director Dibakar Banerjee, who has directed independent films like Khosla Ka Ghosla and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!
The fact that the opening film features commercial Indian cinema’s first explicit sex scene got a lot of publicity in the British media. The other films at the six-day festival spread across London are Mahesh Manjrekar’s City of Gold, Saeed Akhtar Mirza’s Last Chance Mumbai, Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D and Amit Rai’s Road To Sangam.
Festival’s director Cary Rajinder Sawhney said the festival wants to focus on cutting-edge contemporary films in India, not just Bollywood. “Apart from just showing great movies, we also aim to help get these films talked about and screened more broadly in cinemas in the UK, in the same way that Iranian cinema has been. London of course has a huge Asian audience for these movies, but many Britons would also like to see what’s going on in the 1.2-billion-strong India today and cinema is a great way to do this,” Mr Sawhney, who also in involved in choosing films for the prestigious London Film Festival, said.
The festival is also hosting the a short film competition with the Satyajit Ray Foundation to encourage filmmakers “to explore, in filmic terms, the experiences of South Asians their attitudes and approach to various aspects of their lives either within their own country or the Diaspora.” The winning short film will be awarded £1,000 and screened at the closing night gala on July 20 along with the closing night film, Vihir (The Well).