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Birmingham Indian Film Festival returns for 2026
Via Helen for Birmingham Indian Film Festival
July 2026: Later this week Birmingham Indian Film Festival (BIFF) returns with a rich array of cutting-edge new cinema premieres from India and around South Asia, many of them cherry-picked from the finest film festivals around the world, plus restorations of magnificent classics of Indian cinema. BIFF also presents a pioneering LGBTQIA+ showcase as well as the best emerging British Asian film talent.
The Festival which runs from 10th to 19th July sits as part of Europe’s largest South Asian film festival, London Indian Film Festival (LIFF), with editions in Manchester as well as in Birmingham. This is the 12th outing in the city, with all screenings taking place at Midlands Arts Centre (mac birmingham), and a special one-off LGBTQIA+ screening taking place at Lockworks Cinema, Wolverhampton.
The Festival is supported by the BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding National Lottery Funding.
BIFF Head of Cinema, Dharmesh Rajput said:
Birmingham Indian Film Festival is a festival for everybody, and our 2026 programme is the boldest yet, spanning themes of disability, motherhood, LGBTQIA+ stories, political dramas and Indian cinema classics.
I think the Festival is about widening our horizons, understanding stories from other parts of the world, understanding cultures, understanding people.
At the heart of it, storytelling is one of the oldest forms of helping to increase knowledge and helping people understand each other.”
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 Midlands Arts Centre (mac birmingham). On 10th July, the director and cast will be present.
Speaking about the festival’s programme, CEO and Programming Director, Cary Rajinder Sawhney said;
We are delighted to open the 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.
We are proud that the festival has continued to strengthen its reputation in the city and the West Midlands region, and delighted that our programmers have excelled this year in bringing rare UK premieres of films that started their lives at some of the world’s major festivals.
Our mission is to warmly serve all audiences; you don’t need to be South Asian to enjoy the film fare on offer. Everyone is welcome.”
52 Blue Director, Abi El Arabi said:
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.”
UK Premieres this year include; In Search Of The Sky directed by Jitank Singh Gurjar to be screened in Birmingham (13th July) and London – 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.
New Bangladeshi film, screened at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2026, will have its premiere in Birmingham on 16th July. Master is directed by 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.
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 (12th July); while the skin is peeled off family patriarchy in Anmol – Lovingly Ours, directed by Priyankka Saha (12th July) where young parents are put to the ultimate test when their newborn’s gender identity forces them to confront their own beliefs and prejudices. A post-screening Q and A will be supported by the British Council.
Driven forward by last year’s success at the festival, legendary director Peter Brook’s The Mahabharata, depicting the ancient Hindu epic story, will have its Midland Premiere at mac, closing the Birmingham festival on 19th July.
A special profile this year will recognise and spotlight British South Asian talent, with a series of short films under the banner Britain through South Asian Eyes on 15th July. Along with a Q and A, expect four films: After Eight: The Story of Satpal Ram, Shop Dada, More Punk Than Punk and The Dhabba.
Mos Hannan, Director of After Eight: The Story of Satpal Ram, commented:
Satpal’s story is a Brummie story at heart. It all started in Handsworth. The campaign began there and then went on to an international movement, so it means a lot to us to finally bring it to where it all started.”
Satpal Ram himself said:
It’s important that the film comes back to Birmingham because that’s where it all began”.
The festival’s pioneering LGBTQIA+ film showcase, Too Desi Too Queer returns on 17th July in Birmingham and 19th July in Wolverhampton, 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.
Additionally, the festival will be expanding accessibility for Deaf and hard-of-hearing people, including closed captions, along with more screenings featuring BSL-interpreted Q and A’s across all festival cities.
BIFF is delighted to welcome back its major funder, the BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, as well as additional support from Birmingham City University and Sampad. BIFF is presented by London Indian Film Festival.
Join the conversation: BIFF2026 welovebiff For the full programme and to book tickets, visit: birminghamindianfilmfestival.co.uk.
