Europe’s Largest South Asian Film Event is Back! Sold

Europe’s Largest South Asian Film Event is Back!
Emma Thompson’s Sold, Million Dollar Arm & Bollywood Stars at London INDIAN Film Festival
Million Dollar Arm | Courtesy of The Walt Disney Company
Executive produced by actor Emma Thompson, Sold will be the red carpet European Premiere opening night film
of the Fifth annual London INDIAN Film Festival (July 10-17). This film is a powerful, survival against the odds
tale about a young Nepali girl who is trafficked to Kolkata, India. Gillian Anderson stars with a great Indian and
Nepali ensemble cast including Seema Biswas (Bandit Queen). Central highlights of the festival will be the UK
Premiere of the true story Million Dollar Arm, from The Walt Disney Company, starring Jon Hamm (Mad Men)
and Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi). Bollywood’s hottest actor Farhan Akhtar and South Indian cinematography
supremo Santosh Sivan will be giving rare screen talks at the BFI Southbank. Closing the festival will be the World
Premiere of Hemalkasa, an homage to the revolutionary human rights leader Prakash Baba Amte, starring
Bollywood hero Nana Patekar. Many other special guests are expected to a packed week of UK first screenings.
Now Europe’s largest platform for Indian cinema, the London Indian Film Festival returns to the Capital, in
association with Pure Heaven, the British Film Institute, and official Hotel Partner Grange Hotels, celebrating the
exploding movement of Indian Independent cinema and bringing to UK audiences a rare selection of cutting-edge
films from some of the Indian subcontinent’s hottest independent talents. Going way beyond Bollywood, the
festival presents a kaleidoscope of new films that challenge, shock, generate debate and present a more realistic
view of India and the subcontinent today, in all its diversity. The festival will stretch citywide, opening in the West
End at the historic Cineworld Haymarket, and continuing at BFI Southbank, Cineworld cinemas Wembley, Wood
Green, Wandsworth and O2 in Royal Greenwich and ICA near the Pall Mall, so there is a screening near you.
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The first weekend of this high-impact festival launches with Sold, on 10th July which explores the controversial
theme of child trafficking; one school girl’s battle against the odds and the dangerous journey to liberate her from
the Kolkata mafia; expect a glamorous line up of celebs to follow X Files and The Fall actress Gillian Anderson
down the red carpet.
On 12th July Rotterdam Film Festival headliner 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. Apur Panchali, based on a true-life story, is an emotionally charged homage to Satyajit Ray’s
impoverished child character Apu and the real-life person who played one of the most famous child roles in world
cinema. It screens on 13th July. By contrast Slamdance audience winner Hank and Asha explores a new
generation of trans-global online romance, at ICA and Cineworlds across London. The festival’s Central Gala is
the inspirational true story Million Dollar Arm that follows the uplifting journey of two Indian boys whose lives are
transformed by a national TV contest and against the odds end up going to the US to train to become major sports
stars.
Actor / Director Farhan Akhtar
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.
In terms of special talks, India’s most celebrated cinematographer and acclaimed director Santosh Sivan gives
a unique Masterclass at BFI Southbank, 11th July. The multi-talented singer, actor and director Farhan Akhtar
rocks into town on 15th July and offers an insight on his high-octane career so far, including his iconic recent role
as muscle rippling athletics hero Milkha Singh in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Expect lots of female fans! Bollywood icon
Nana Patekar stars in the festival's uplifting closing World Premiere of Hemalkasa. Directed by Samruddhi Porey
it’s guaranteed to make you cry and smile at the same time.
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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 at the ICA on 15th July.
We are delighted to announce that our Major Sponsors this year will include Queen's Award for Enterprise
International Trade winner Sunmark Ltd, producers of Pure Heaven brand and founding sponsor Grange
Hotels. The festival is also grant funded for by the BFI Film Festival Fund.
Emma Thompson comments:
“It is wonderful to have our film premiered at London Indian Film Festival, to raise awareness of child-trafficking,
which is an issue close to my heart and is shockingly on the increase world-wide. We hope that this film will make
people think and highlight the support for key charities such as The Helen Bamber Foundation and others working
in this difficult area in India, Nepal and elsewhere”.
Says Farhan Akhtar:
“At its heart, Cinema is about sharing ones culture with the world. Be it on screen or in representation of ones
work. I look forward to sharing my experiences, memories and motivations.”
Cary Rajinder Sawhney, Festival Director comments:
“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”.
Talent will be available for interviews.
For more information on the festival please visit:
www.londonindianfilmfestival.co.uk
Join us on social media:
www.facebook.com/LondonIndianFilmFestival
www.twitter.com/LoveLIFF
For press enquiries, please contact:
Ashanti Omkar: [email protected]
London Indian Film Festival is supported by partners including:
Pure Heaven, British Film Institute, Grange Hotels, Satyajit Ray Foundation, Cineworld, Zee TV,
BBC London and BBC Asian Network.
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Notes to Editors:
Premiere or first screening dates shown below, further screenings will be listed at:www.londonindianfilmfestival.co.uk/programme
SOLD
English Language l 97 mins l USA l Dir. Jeffrey D Brown with Gillian Anderson, Seema Biswas, David Arquette,
Niyar Saikia, Tillotama Shome, Parambrata Chatterjee.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE | OPENING NIGHT | 10 JULY | 18:00 | CINEWORLD HAYMARKET
Executive produced by actor Emma Thompson, Sold will be the red carpet European Premiere opening night film
of the Fifth annual London INDIAN Film Festival (July 10-17). This film is a powerful, survival against the odds tale
about a young Nepali girl who is trafficked to Kolkata, India.
Q&A with Dir. Jeffrey D Brown and Actor Gillian Anderson, other talent expected.
HEMALKASA
Hindi with English subtitles | 117 mins | India Dir. Samruddhi Porey | with Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni, Mohan
Agashe.
WORLD PREMIERE | CLOSING NIGHT | 17 JULY | 18:00 | CINEWORLD HAYMARKET
This inspirational and incredibly moving biopic follows the selfless journey of Dr. Prakash Baba Amte and his wife
Dr. Mandakini Amte, a couple who dedicated their lives to a project for the development of tribal people of
Maharashtra, India, in the toughest of conditions with little or no support from the establishment.
Q&A with special guests.
MILLION DOLLAR ARM
English language | 124 mins | US | Dir. Craig Gillespie | With Jon Hamm, Suraj Sharma, Madhur Mittal, Lake Bell,
Alan Arkin.
UK PREMIERE | CENTREPIECE GALA | 14 JULY | 18.15 | CINEWORLD SHAFTESBURY AVE
An inspirational true story that follows the uplifting journey of two Indian boys whose lives are transformed by a
national TV contest and against the odds end up going to the US to train to become major sports stars.
SANTOSH SIVAN MASTERCLASS
JULY 11 | BFI SOUTHBANK
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.
FARHAN AKHTAR SCREEN TALK
JULY 16 | BFI SOUTHBANK
The renaissance man of Indian entertainment, who acts, directs, writes, produces and sings discusses his storied
career that includes Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Dil Chahta Hai, Don and Rock On!! at the British Film Institute.
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QISSA: THE TALE OF A LONELY GHOST
Punjabi with English subtitles | 109 min | India, Germany, Netherlands, France | Dir. Anup Singh | with Irrfan Khan,
Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal.
UK PREMIERE | 12 JULY | 20:10 | BFI SOUTHBANK
Acclaimed actor and LIFF 2013 guest Irrfan Khan (Lunchbox, Life of Pi), plays the role of Umber Singh, a rural
Sikh, dispossessed from his homeland by the Partition, who obsessively focuses on the ‘ideal’ of having a son
and heir, but as his fourth daughter is born he hides the child’s true identity.
Q&A with Dir. Anup Singh.
ANIMA STATE
Urdu with English subtitles | 80 mins | Pakistan/UK Dir. Hammad Khan | with Uns Mufti, Malika Zafar, Osman
Khalid Butt.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 14 JULY | 18:15 | CINEWORLD HAYMARKET
A man with a bandage mask across his face goes on a shooting spree across a Pakistani city, in this unflinching
and surreal look at contemporary Pakistan that will provoke and entertain in equal measure.
Q&A with Dir. Hammad Khan.
APUR PANCHALI (APU’S SONG)
India with English subtitles | 97 min | Dir. Kaushik Ganguly | with Parambrata Chatterjee, Ardhendu Banerjee,
Parno Mitra.
UK PREMIERE | 13 JULY | 15:00 | BFI SOUTHBANK
One of the greatest child characters in cinema history is the little boy Apu in Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali (Song
of the Little Road) and Kaushik Ganguly’s heart-touching, jewel box of a film is inspired by the real-life actor Subir
Banerjee, who played the young Apu.
Q&A with Dir. Kaushik Ganguly.
HANK AND ASHA
English language l 73 Mins l USA l Dir James E. Duff l with Andrew Pastides, Mahira Kakkar.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 11 JULY | 18:30 | ICA
Winner of the Slamdance Audience Award, this tender delight of a movie tells of the courtship of two loveable
young strangers searching for connection in an online world.
Q&A with Dir. James E Duff.
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SHONGRAM (STRUGGLE)
Bangla with English subtitles | 103 mins | Bangladesh/UK | Dir. Munsur Ali | with Anupam Kher, Asia Argento,
Amaan Reza, Dilruba Yasmeen Ruhee.
SPECIAL PREVIEW | 14 JULY | 19:30 | CINEWORLD O2
In this powerful romantic drama set during the 1971 liberation struggle of Bangladesh, a Muslim falls in love with
a Hindu, but their peaceful life is suddenly interrupted by war.
Q&A with Dir. Munsur Ali and other special guests.
AN AMERICAN IN MADRAS
English, Tamil, Hindi with English subtitles | 80 minutes | India | Dir. Karan Bali | with Kamal Haasan, Radha
Viswanathan, K. Hariharan.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE |15 JULY | 20:20 | ICA
This fascinating and fast-paced documentary traces the journey of American-born filmmaker Ellis R. Dungan who
arrived in India in 1935 intending to stay for 6 months but ended up staying for 15 years, during which he brought
many technical innovations to the developing Tamil Film Industry of the 1930s and ‘40s, and infused a sense of
professionalism into its filmmaking, all without understanding a word of the language!
Q&A with Dir. Karan Bali.
SULEMANI KEEDA (WRITERS)
Hindi with English subtitles | 89 mins | India/US | Dir. Amit V Masurkar | with Naveen Kasturia, Mayank Tewari,
Aditi Vasudev.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 11 JULY | 20:00 | CINEWORLD WEMBLEY
This tale of two struggling writers dare to dream big and try to peddle their screenplay in Bollywood is a racy romp
through the filmi underbelly of Mumbai richly populated with a host of Bollywood celebrities in cameos, playing
themselves.
Q&A with Dir. Amit V Masurkar.
ULIDAVARU KANDANTE (AS SEEN BY THE REST)
Kannada with English subtitles | 154 mins | India | Dir. Rakshit Shetty | with Rakshit Shetty, Kishore, Tara.
INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE 12 JULY | 18:00 | CINEWORLD WANDSWORTH
This dazzling epic manages to cram in homages to Sin City, Pulp Fiction, Agneepath, Scarface, Shankar Nag,
Rashomon and a host of other tributes while being a kinetic suspense thriller that deals with five interconnected
stories, where a journalist sets out to uncover the truth behind an incident from the past, through the perspectives
of different people, and how they and their lives are intertwined with it.
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GOOPI GAWAIYA BAGHA BAJAIYA
Hindi with English subtitles l 79 mins l India l Dir. Shilpa Ranade l with voices of Manish Bhawan, Shailendra
Pande, Rajeev Raj.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 12 JULY | 15:00 | CINEWORLD WOOD GREEN
Premiered at Toronto Film Festival, The World of Goopi and Bagha is a delightful and hilarious animated feature,
based on a story for children of all ages immortalised by Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
KANYAKA TALKIES (VIRGIN TALKIES)
Malayalam with English subtitles | 115 mins | India | Dir. K.R. Manoj | with Murali Gopy, Lena Kumar, Indrans,
Manianpilla Raju.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 13 JULY | 16:00 | CINEWORLD WANDSWORTH
In this gripping tale a twenty-year-old movie theatre showing soft porn as its mainstay gets converted into a
church and the new parish priest suffers a crisis of faith as he hears disturbing voices from porn stars from past
screenings.
BAREFOOT TO GOA
Hindi with English subtitles l 80 mins l India l Dir. Praveen Morchhale l with Purva Parag, Farrukh Jaffar, Saara
Nahar.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 11 JULY | 19:00 | CINEWORLD WANDSWORTH
A hit at festivals around India, Barefoot to Goa explores with great sensitivity the Indian middleclass dilemma of
what to do with ageing parents and the intergenerational ties that powerfully bind families together, and follows
two children on a road trip adventure across India as they run away from home to visit their ailing grandmother.
ILAI (LEAF)
Tamil with English subtitles l 67 mins l India l Dir. Rajiv Reddy Pochareddy l with Manjula Odanadi, Pritham
Charavarthy, Mighty Gibson.
EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 11 JULY | 19:00 | CINEWORLD WOOD GREEN
A lonely little girl from the countryside accidentally finds herself in a bustling metropolis where she doesn’t know
the city’s language, or understand its high-speed ways.
SATYAJIT RAY FOUNDATION’S SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Languages: Various with English subtitles | Total Running Time: 115 mins
15 JULY | 18:20 | ICA
LIFF presents the prestigious Satyajit Ray Foundation's annual short film competition. The winner of the £1,000
award will be announced on 17 July at the Closing Night Gala.
2014 Jury: Hammad Khan (director) Pratibha Parmar (director) Kaleem Aftab (journalist) Nirpal Dhaliwal
(journalist) Satwant Gill (LIFF Jury Chair).
Shortlisted films overleaf:-
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SATYAJIT RAY FOUNDATION’S SHORT FILM COMPETITION (cont)
KUSH
Dir. Shubhashish Bhutiani | 20 mins | India | 2013
COUNTRY OF BODIES, BOMBAY IN DANCE
Dir. Puneet Rakheja | 8mins | India | 2013
RANI
Dir. Manish Sharma | 10 mins | India | 2013
NO LOVE LOST
Dir. Shekhar Bassi | 15 mins | UK | 2013
FLY, BIRD (CHIDIYA UDH)
Dir. Pranjal Dua | 21 mins | India | 2013
ALCHEMY
Dir. Pranay Patwardhan, Janmeet Singh, Shivangi Ranawan | 4 mins | India/China | 2013
OUT POST
Dir. Shiva Shankar Bajpai | 16 mins | India | 2013
DEVIL IN THE BLACK STONE (KAPPU KALLINA SAITANA)
Dir. Ananya Kasaravalli | 20 mins | India | 2013
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