It’s that time of the year when prestigious film festivals around the world host their esteemed film events. Film premieres, awards, debuts of fresh, innovative talents are the toast of the town. After the Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Venice Film Festival in quick succession, it is now the turn of the British Film Institute’s (BFI) London Film Festival to kick off next week in London.
The BFI London Film Festival is one of the most highly esteemed film festivals of the UK. This year, the LFF will be held from October 5 to October 16, and will showcase close to 150 films from around the world in its various segments.
In a proud moment for India, two Indian films have made it to the London Film Festival, to be showcased in its ‘Threads’ category of films. Yes, it’s a really meagre number when viewed in light of the total films that will be screened at the LFF – 150 films. However, why not celebrate the two films that did make it to the festival! One is a hard-hitting Malayalam film, and the other is a Hindi language film based on true events.
The Malayalam film to be screened at the London Film Festival is Mahesh Narayanan’s thought-provoking and hard-hitting ‘Ariyippu’, aka ‘Declaration’. The film stars Kunchacko Boban, Divya Prabha, Danish husain, Loveleen Mishra, and Faizal Malik in pivotal roles. It is written, directed and produced by Mahesh Narayanan. Kunchacko Boban and Shebin Backer are co-producers on ‘Ariyippu’.
Set in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, the story of ‘Ariyippu’ centres on a struggling Malayali couple in Noida, who nurture the dream of migrating out of the country for a better life. A sensitive and manipulated video clip is circulated amongst the co-workers of the factory where the couple works and it unleashes unexpected emotional, social and marital imbalances in their relationship.
The Hindi film that will be showcased at the London Film Festival 2022 is Hansal Mehta‘s ‘Faraaz’. The film is set in the backdrop of the Dhaka hostage situation that ravaged the city in 2016. ‘Faraaz’ chronicles the events that took place on the night of July 1, 2016, in Dhaka where five young militants ravaged the upscale cafe and held over 50 people as hostages for nearly 12 dreadful hours.
‘Faraaz‘ is written by Ritesh Shah, Kashyap Kapoor and Raghav Raj Kakker. It marks the debut of late actor Shashi Kapoor’s grandson, Zahan Kapoor. The film also stars Aditya Rawal (Bamfaad), Juhi Babbar, Aamir Ali, Abhirami Bose and Nitin Goel. ‘Faraaz’ is directed by Hansal and Jay Mehta.
While ‘Ariyippu’ and ‘Faraaz’ have been selected for screening at the BFI London Film Festival 2022, Shaunak Sen’s Sundance and Cannes winning documentary film ‘All That Breathes’ is in the running for the Best Documentary Award at the LFF. Keeping fingers crossed that ‘All That Breathes’ makes India proud at yet another International film festival awards event.