![ACV](http://asianculturevulture.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/acvsubsbannernaked.jpg")
The latest and we will be updating in between screenings and interviews …keep tuned…
🎥 ‘The Cloud Messenger‘ by Rahat Mahajan screens on Wednesday (October 12). This intense drama about two young people falling for each other at a posh Indian boarding school is deeply influenced by Hindu mythology and ideas, and very much worth seeing, if you like a brooding romance story that is replete with the symbolism and grandeur of love lived in the past (ie through reincarnation). There are elements of dance in this and very beautiful and atmospheric – shot in the hills and mountains where the school is situated. See here for listings.
🎥 ‘All that Breathes’ the Indian documentary about two Muslim brothers and their cousin who rescue birds, has finished its screenings at LFF. This Sundance and Cannes winner goes on general release in the UK on October 14. We had a chat with director Shaunak Sen, where he told us he is looking at making a narrative fiction work next. More soon.
🎥 We attended the UK Asian Film Festival reception for South Asian filmmakers on Friday (October 8) at the BFI and have some video interviews with filmmakers and others – including Ahmed Jamal who is launching the inaugural Qissa International Film Festival in London next month and director Mahesh Narayanan whose ‘Declaration’ showed at the festival. We will be reviewing it. Our video will also be out later.
🎥 ‘Creature‘ The new dance film by director Asif Kapadia and choreographer Akram Khan has its world premiere at the festival on Saturda. There are still tickets when we last looked. Kapadia and Khan talked about the experience of working together and Khan admitted that he changed parts of ‘Creature‘ for the English National Ballet after discussing its themes with Kapadia when they started to film and that he was his dramaturg, in the absence of the usual one, because of lockdown. We expect to carry a preview story, looking at what the two said at a LFF Connects talk last Friday (October 7). Check listings for tickets.
🎥 We also saw the rather brilliant ‘Boy from Heaven’ about a young man who wins a scholarship to study at the prestigious Al Azhar University in Cairo and is then drawn into political intrigue and state manoeuvrings. Written and directed by Tarik Saleh, it is produced by a number of countries and won an award in Cannes for screenwriting. It is set to go on general release in March 2023 here (UK) and well worth seeing, especially if you are interested in the intersection between politics and religion in countries such as Egypt. We will review.
🎥 Malala Yousefzai, the Nobel Prizewinner has joined the production of ‘Joyland‘, the Pakistani film that enjoyed its world premiere in Cannes, as an executive producer and was at the LFF red carpet screening on Friday (October 8). (For our main coverage, see Youtube). The Joyland team has left the UK but the film goes on general release in February of next year.
🎥 Other highlights…
On Friday night (October 7) actor James Corden and screenwriter Jez Butterworth were at LFF for the screening of their Amazon Prime drama series, ‘Mammals’. About a couple whose marriage starts to fall apart when Corden’s character realises his extremely attractive wife (Melia Kreiling) is playing away from home. With a young child and a recent bereavement of a new baby, and a predicted Michelin starred restaurant to launch, chef Jamie finds himself with a lot to deal with. It is wryly British humour filmed in a beautiful summery London. Fans of Corden shouldn’t miss and man, he can act and carries the weight of this on his considerable acting shoulders. Bravo!
