Women directors in focus at LIFF
An all-women filmmaker line-up of screenings is at the heart of the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) as it returns to cinemas across the UK capital amid a Covid-secure setting.
Among some of the highlights of this year's festival, which adopted a hybrid mode by hosting a series of virtual sessions earlier in the year, include director Arati Kadav's sci-fi film 'Cargo', which is produced by filmmaker Anurag Kashyap.
When Arati finished her direction course from Whistling Woods International in Mumbai in 2012, she knew that her first feature would be in the lesser-seen genre in Hindi cinema. Only it would take her eight years to realise her dream. What kept her going were the short films she made (Time Machine on Mubi) and the realisation that she would be an outlier in the industry. "There's no image of a female director making sci-fi," says Kadav. "You see male visionary directors. I knew I would crack it." And she did.
The line-up also includes Deepti Gupta's tongue-in-cheek documentary with popular Indian musician Sona Mohapatra, who gets candid about the discrimination women face in the music industry.
'Brick Lane' actor Tannishtha Chaterjee's acclaimed directorial debut, 'Roam Rome Mein', alongside actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui and an Italian cast, and Bollywood star Vidya Balan's short film production 'Natkhat' (The Brat) are among some of the other films set for their cinema outing.
"Championing diverse filmmaking has always been a big part of the work that the Bagri Foundation does, and to highlight this stellar line-up of women-made films, is a particular delight. The highs and lows of human lives, told through the female gaze, continues to be rare, said Alka Bagri, Trustee of the Bagri Foundation, the title sponsor of the film festival.
We congratulate LIFF on their resilience in this tough year, and as cinemas reopen to the public, for those who feel comfortable, we hope you enjoy this glimpse into important narratives on the big screen, she said.
The all-women directorial line-up follows the festival's digital avatar in response to the coronavirus lockdown with LoveLIFFatHOME.com, which hosted In Conversation events with leading film talent such as Oscar nominees Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta and Indian stars like Shabana Azmi, Anurag Kashyap, Ayushmann Khurana, as well as crossover talents like Freida Pinto and Adil Hussain.
