TONGUES ON FIRE – LONDON ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 16-24 March 2012
Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan to attend the Opening Night at BFI
We are delighted to announce that Bollywod actor and our Patron
Abhishek Bachchan is confirmed to
attend the Opening Night of the 14 th London Asian Film Festival hosted by Tongues on Fire from 16 to 24 March across multiple venues in London.
Abhishek is scheduled to attend the opening press conference, talking about the importance of this annual festival and will be present at the introduction of the opening film of the festival
Michael, starring: Naseeruddin Shah on 16 March at the British Film Institute (BFI), Southbank.
Meera Syal has agreed to open the festival, as our patron.
The festival which closes with an Awards Dinner at BAFTA on 24 March honors a range of exciting films influenced by South Asian cultures that have made waves in the international film festival circuit.
Some of the other major highlights of the festival include the following:
A thrilling Pakistani film section which includes screening of the highly controversial film Bol on
18 March at BFI. The lead actress of the film Humaima Malik is confirmed to attend the Q&A
session after the screening
In this year of the Paralympics, we’re very excited to have invited the acclaimed Bollywood
director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who will be here on 21 March until the closing night awards
ceremony on 24 March at BAFTA. TOF will be honoring him with an award in recognition of his
work on disability in Indian cinema. Sanjay will also be delivering the Nargis Dutt lecture at the
University of Westminster (Regent Street campus) on 22 March and we will be screening critically
acclaimed films Black and Guzaarish during the ten day event.
We’re also privileged to have Meherjaan from Bangladesh a project across Pakistan, India and
Bangladesh starring Jaya Bachchan. We are honored to have the director Rubaiyat Hossain with
us for a Q&A after the screening
Our annual short film competition showcasing the remarkable work of aspiring film-makers and
future stars of cinema takes place on 17 March at Apollo, Piccadilly
The closing night awards ceremony will be at BAFTA on 24 March. The gala ceremony itself will
be in the theatre upstairs, followed by a black tie sit down meal in the David Lean room
We are pleased to collaborate with Macmillan Cancer Support on a series of Film Making workshops and
Time to Change to provoke debate on mental health through their short film
Wedding Reception.
Festival director Dr. Pushpinder Chowdhry says,
“The 14th London Asian Film Festival has a global
flavor celebrating diversity with films, special events and our annual short film competition.
It’s an exciting time for London and we hope the stories we have selected will move, excite