The first edition of the Leicester Asian Film Festival took place between the 16th and 19th of March 2017 at the Phoenix Cinema and Art Centre in Leicester’s Cultural Quarter. The festival was produced and presented by Phizzical Productions in partnership with Tongues on Fire’s London Asian Film Festival and in association with De Montfort University.
We were lucky enough to attend the festival and watch a selection of the seven films which ran across the four-day event. The films explored important topics relevant to the current social and political climate, while giving unique insights and perspectives from the subcontinent.
The Leicester Asian Film Festival Screenings
We caught ‘Those 4 Walls’, a film supported by a British-Asian cast and described as a “drama-induced saga of social issues”. As well as this, we managed to catch up with Vallisa Chauhan, the producer of the film to talk about her creative work, future plans and introduce to her the eclectic Anara roster.
The closing film, ‘Lipstick Under My Burkha’, a female led film that explores the dreams and desires of women in an oppressive society was also a particular highlight for us. Marking the 70th anniversary of The Partition of India, ‘Mantostaan’ and ‘Mango Dreams’ were also screened. They examined the events in 1947 and the actions that followed on a societal and a personal level. ‘Wrong Side Raju’, ‘You Are My Sunday’ and ‘Badozee’ completed the line up of films for the festival.
Of course, we were also very interested to hear the soundtracks featured within the films. We were pleased to hear a very varied and eclectic mixture of contemporary and traditional music. This was true for the more well known Bollywood music and the new wave of music that we have seen coming out of India in recent years.
With our strong links to India, we are happy that our hometown is getting involved with the Asian community and championing our multicultural society. We enjoyed experiencing the first ever Leicester Asian Film Festival and are eagerly anticipating its return in 2018!