The London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) will be bringing highlights of their programme to Manchester for LIFF@HOME. 

Over the weekend of Sat 30 June and Sun 1 July, there will be screenings of an eye-catching selection of must-watch films: the award winning Village Rockstars, British Asian comedy set in Blackpool - Eaten By Lions and a delightful alternative family values comedy Venus.

Eaten by Lions
Sat 30 Jun 2018 at 15.30 (12A)
Directed by Jason Wingard

A hilarious British comedy about two teenage half brothers who are each in search of their different roots. While one brother, Pete, gets accustomed to his controlling English family, the other, Omar, travels to Blackpool in search of his real Asian dad.
Q&A with director Jason Wingard will follow the screening.

Venus
Sat 30 Jun 2018 at 18.10 (12A)
Directed by Eisha Marjara

Asian Image:

A comedy about alternative family values. Sid is a Montreal Punjabi, who has decided to have gender surgery, that is until a 14-year-old boy turns up and insists that Sid is his long lost dad from a teenage affair.
Q&A with director Eisha Marjara will follow the screening.

Village Rockstars
Sun 1 Jul 2018 at 15.50 (U)
Directed by Rima Das

Asian Image:

Recipient of multiple international awards, Village Rockstars is an instant crowd-pleaser. A single mother and her 10-year-old daughter Dhunu live in a remote flood-prone Assamese village. Dhunu is not a shy, submissive girl and with a vibrant spirit and imagination she dreams of setting up her own rock band. 

She fashions a make-believe guitar out of expanded polystyrene and jams in the rice fields with her boy mates. Noticing an old guitar has come up for sale in the market Dhunu attempts schemes to raise money to buy it, but as the local women complain about Dhunu’s un-girlish behaviour, her mother is forced to make a stand.
Q&A with director Rima Das for a Q&A will follow the screening.

Omar Ahmed who is co-ordinating LIFF in Manchester said “After the success of Not Just Bollywood in September 2017, which was supported by HOME and the North West Film Hub, the launch of LIFF@HOME in Manchester points to the growing interest in alternative and independent South Asian cinema here in the North. 

"The exciting season of films from LIFF will demonstrate the ways in which South Asian cinema continues to take on new and edgy subject matter from a refreshing perspective.”

Festival director Cary Rajinder Sawhney said: “One great thing about being in the UK and especially London is that we are culturally intertwined to India and South Asia, not just through our shared history but our living, everyday experience where South Asian communities add so much to UK cultural life, of which cinema is an important aspect. 

"This cutting edge festival showcases indie cinema that entertains but shows the more realistic and sometimes the raw side of South Asian culture but, at the same time, there are always stories of comedy, hope and the un-exhaustable energy of over 1.3 billion South Asian lives from the Indian subcontinent”.

Dr Alka Bagri, Trustee of the Bagri Foundation said: "For the fourth year, the Bagri Foundation is delighted to bring to the UK the best of independent South Asian cinema with LIFF. 

"As a charity dedicated to celebrating the arts and culture of Asia in all its richness and diversity, from the traditional to the contemporary, we are proud to champion independent cinema and give a platform to new voices alongside established artists. 

"The Festival is a key moment in the UK arts calendar and we are thrilled to place a spotlight on South Asian culture through engaging and audacious films that explore universal and topical subject matters such as identity, women’s empowerment and construction of masculinity."  

To book tickets for LIFF@HOME films and events click here                    

For more information for the full festival programme click here