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UK Asian Film Festival

The UK Asian Film Festival is now celebrating its 25th year!

In that time has been a vital source of opportunity for film makers and audiences to engage with the richness and vibrancy of South Asian culture, history, arts, storytelling, and self-expression.

Produced by Tongues on Fire, a not-for-profit company founded in 1997, the aims of the festival are:

  • Opening doors and providing a platform for emerging talent, independent film and arts with a link to South Asia
  • Bridging art, culture, health, and technology to herald the challenges of a world in motion
  • Dismantling inequalities in the creative industries to readdress the balance
  • Breaking barriers, taboos in British South Asian and South Asian communities and encourage open discussion with a focus on gender equality, LGBTQ+ empowerment and mental health
  • Empowering the next generation through masterclasses and showcases
  • Pioneering networking occasions to develop leaders, provide wider learning opportunities and building a South Asian Film Festivals Federation.

Queen Mary is a key strategic partner of the festival, through the integral support of Dr Ashvin Devasundaram who is a Senior Lecturer in World Cinema at QM and has served as an associate director of UKAFF.

He also leads the Emerging Curators Lab at UKAFF, which nurtures a new generation of film curators and audiences and showcases a diverse spectrum of British South Asian/South Asian cinema.

Dr Devasundaram also directed Movies, Memories, Magic, a documentary film which celebrates the hybrid cinematic and cultural heritage of London’s South Asian communities across time and space. Cinema has served as a vital bridge between cultures and countries for South Asian people in Britain.

The film was the culmination of a year-long UK Heritage Lottery project led by the UK Asian Film Festival (UKAFF) and Queen Mary University of London. It depicts a vibrant picture of how iconic South Asian films screened in renowned cinema halls in London, from the winding alleyways of Brick Lane to the bustling streets of Southall, galvanised cultural conversations and shaped trends in music, food, fashion and politics. The project received a Community Engagement Award from Queen Mary in November 2018.

The Centre for Creative Collaboration is proud to be a supporter of the annual UKAFF festival, and the networking event hosted by UKAFF which is run in partnership with the BFI at the London Film Festival.

For all the latest information on UKAFF and upcoming opportunities, visit www.tonguesonfire.com

 

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