EXCLUSIVE: Veteran filmmakers Imitiaz Ali and Onir are among the guests confirmed to attend this year’s UK Asian Film Festival, which runs Thursday 1st – Sunday 11th May at venues across London, Leicester, and Coventry.
The festival’s opening gala will take place at the BFI Southbank and will feature the European premiere of the anthology flick My Melbourne (2024). Described as a “bold and moving celebration of diversity,” the anthology explores identity, belonging and resilience through four true stories of underrepresented voices in Australia—a queer man reconnecting with his father; a deaf dancer chasing her dream; a food blogger bonding with a homeless poet; and a refugee girl finding hope through cricket. Directors on the project are Onir, Rima Das, Imtiaz Ali, and Kabir Khan.
The closing film will be the London premiere of The Glassworker (2024), the Oscar-nominated animated feature from director Usman Riaz. The film’s synopsis reads: As war looms, a gifted glassmaker and his father see their world disrupted by an army colonel and his violinist daughter. When love blossoms between the young artists, they must find the courage to stand up to their fathers. The closing night gala will also serve as the UK Asian Film Festival Awards presentation. As part of the ceremony, music producer and composer Biddu will receive the Golden Flame Lifetime Achievement Award.
Elsewhere, the festival will host a concert at the Harrow Arts Centre on Friday, 9th May, to celebrate the centennial of the legendary Raj Kapoor, best known as the greatest showman of Indian cinema. Performers set for the event include Rekha and Chirag Rao.
The LGBTQ strand at this year’s event will include a screening of We Are Faheem and Karun (2024), the first Kashmiri-language feature to centre on a LGBTQ romance. The film follows the story of a chance encounter between a South Indian officer and a local Kashmiri man that blossoms into a tender, secret romance in the border village of Gurez.
Artists set for the festival’s Q&A sessions include filmmaker Sandhya Suri, novelist Shobhaa De, and filmmaker Yavar Abbas.
Discussing this year’s lineup, UK Asian Film Festival Creative Director Samir Bhamra described the event as a “cinematic homecoming” for its visitors.
“Whether it’s a poetic road trip in Parikrama, a riotous Gujarati comedy in Jai Mata Ji, or the shimmering legacy of Raj Kapoor, these films embody the deep ache to find where we belong,” Bhamra said. “Most powerfully, they’re driven by British Asian creatives now shaping global narratives. This is the year to show up, be seen, and feel every beat of our collective story—on the big screen, where it truly belongs.”
