Europe’s largest South Asian film festival, London Indian Film Festival (LIFF), with editions across the UK including the Birmingham Indian Film Festival and Manchester Indian Film Festival, celebrates its 17th year with a power-packed programme of rare major celebrity talks (Aamir Khan In Conversation, Goodness Gracious Me Reunion); Europe’s first Indian AI & Film Showcase and UK premieres of indie features and shorts across five UK cities (London, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Bradford). The festival across the UK is supported by the BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.
Launching this year’s festival is the European Premiere of the euphoric rites-of-passage story, 52 Blue, directed by the award-winning Ali El Arabi (Captains of Zaatari), starring Adil Hussain and Neha Dhupia, at BFI Southbank on 9th July, Midlands Arts Centre (Birmingham) on 10th July, Showroom Cinema (Sheffield) on 11th July and Forest Cinema (Greater London) on 17th July. The director and cast will be present.
The Closing Gala will welcome superstar actor and filmmaker, Aamir Khan In Conversation, at BFI Southbank on 16th July, as a tie-in with the 25th anniversary of Academy Award-nominated, colonial epic, Lagaan, which will have a screening at BFI IMAX on 12th July. Khan will give a rare talk about the making of this hit international film and his career to date, from child actor to one of the world’s most bankable superstars, with an international hit factory of movies mixing entertainment with social issues.
The festival’s Central Gala will be an onstage reunion with some of the UK’s best loved comedians – Goodness Gracious Me Reunion at BFI Southbank on 11th July will gather all of the key cast of the hugely popular 90’s, BBC comedy sketch show that changed the face of British television and UK Asian representation, with Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Nina Wadia, Kulvinder Ghir and Anil Gupta in attendance.
The festival’s India’s AI & Film Future event looks at the future with Europe’s first showcase of a new generation of Indian films that adopt AI and other technologies as part of their creative process at BFI Southbank on 11th July. The short films selected have been chosen by an international jury headed up by famed director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth), including Chaitanya Chinchlikar, Arati Kadav, Hardeep Gambhir, Deepa Bhatia, and Prateek Arora on the jury panel. A follow-up panel and networking event will explore the opportunities for new technologies to democratise access to filmmaking, in partnership with AIFA Ventures (UK). This event will show again in Manchester on 2nd October in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University and other partners.
UK Premieres this year include the TIFF-launched In Search Of The Sky (Dir. Jitank Singh Gurjar) in London and Birmingham – a powerful tale of a young man with disabilities whose poor, elderly parents in a village in India are unable to cope and take him to the Kumbh Mela (the world’s largest religious fair) in search of a cure or resolution. Two new Bangladeshi films that screened at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2026 will have their premieres at the ICA, London and Midlands Arts Centre. Master (Dir: Rezwan Shahriar Sumit) – winner of the Big Screen Competition at IFFR – follows a socialist schoolteacher whose electoral victory in rural Bangladesh gives way to political compromise, exposing the corrosive machinery of power and bureaucracy. The stunningly captured arthouse Roid (Dir: Mejbaur Rahman Sumon) follows a struggling farmer haunted by the mysterious return of his abandoned wife every time a palm fruit falls.
Family dramas include debut director Neel Dutt’s All About Weddings, which presents a dazzling upper class Kolkata wedding that spirals into a chaotic showdown over the course of one day (screenings in Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford, Romford and Sheffield); while the skin is peeled off family patriarchy in Anmol – Lovingly Ours (Dir: Priyankka Saha), where young parents are put to the ultimate test when their newborn’s gender identity forces them to confront their own beliefs and prejudices. Q&A will be supported by the British Council.
Restorations include the Berlinale 2026-screened In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones
(Dir: Pradip Krishen). This cult film captures the zeitgeist of laid-back student life in a Delhi architecture school in the mid-1970’s, written by and featuring Booker Prize laureate, Arundhati Roy. The film’s 4K restoration receives its UK premiere at BFI Southbank and HOME, Manchester. Driven forward by last year’s success at the festival, legendary director Peter Brook’s The Mahabharata, depicting the Hindu ancient epic story, will have its Northern Premieres in HOME Manchester; Pictureville, Bradford; and Sheffield Showroom and Midland Premiere at MAC Birmingham.
A special profile this year will recognise and spotlight British South Asian talent, with two showcase shorts programmes of emerging talent – Brit-Asian Shorts and a dedicated event for industry professionals partnered with Rifco Theatre Company to meet and discuss South Asian writers, actors and filmmakers – Creating a New Horizon for British Asian Film Talent – Stronger Together. South Asian talent from around the UK are expected for this event. Screenings in London, Birmingham and Manchester.
The festival’s pioneering LGBTQIA+ film showcase, Too Desi Too Queer, is co-curated by Manchester’s Rainbow Noir and returns with a fresh selection of groundbreaking and thought-provoking queer films. From heartwarming love stories to inspiring documentaries, these eye-opening shorts celebrate and amplify the voices of South Asian queer individuals. The ever-popular programme screens in Bradford, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Greater London.
The festival continues to champion new generations of South Asian filmmakers with the internationally programmed Satyajit Ray Short Film Competition. Inspired by the humanist work of the legendary Indian filmmaker, the showcase presents five short films to be judged by a distinguished jury. Previous winners include Joyland director, Saim Sadiq, and Hotel Salvation director, Shubhashish Bhutiani.
Additionally, the festival will be expanding accessibility for deaf and hearing-impaired audiences, with more screenings featuring BSL-interpreted Q&A’s across all festival cities. LIFF is delighted to welcome back its major funder, the BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, as well as additional support for these initiatives from Dell, British Council, Birmingham City University, Manchester Metropolitan University and others.
Lagaan Producer and Actor, Aamir Khan says:
“As Lagaan completes 25 years, it’s hard to put into words what this journey has meant. We made the film with a lot of belief, passion and honesty, never imagining the kind of love it would receive and continue to receive all these years later. I’m truly delighted that this milestone is being celebrated with a screening at the BFI. To see Lagaan still connect with audiences across generations and across geographies is very special.”
Speaking about the festival’s programme, CEO and Programming Director, Cary Rajinder Sawhney says, “We are delighted to open our 17th festival with 52 Blue, a riveting and inspirational film about youth finding a way against impossible odds, which seems to wonderfully go against the grain of these despondent times. Further inspiration will come with major In Conversation’s with legendary trailblazers, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, and Britain’s much loved Goodness Gracious Me team, all of whom I am pleased to say are still at the top of their game. Bringing together a glittering box of indie gemstone films from some of the world’s finest film festivals to UK premiere at our five-city festival offers a rare treat to our audiences and an opportunity to experience the rich creativity of the world’s most populated region.”
52 Blue Director, Abi El Arabi says:
“It goes beyond words to express how deeply grateful and happy I am, not only because the film is screening at Europe’s largest South Asian film festival, reaching an audience that has always felt close to my heart and profoundly moved me, but also because of the privilege of working with extraordinary actors such as Adil Hussain and Neha Dhupia, alongside the remarkable team that brought this story to life, the same spirit that once made the World Cup feel possible.”