Birmingham will host the first-ever DESIblitz Film Fusion Festival in June 2022. A first of its kind, the festival focuses on promoting and elevating, Punjabi, Pakistani and Sports films. Movies made by Kashmiri filmmakers are also an integral feature of the festival. The final selection of films will have a South Asian context, as well as a British and world scope to them. The festival is also running a film competition. This is for any young aspiring filmmaker to make a short movie around the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
About the DESIblitz Film Fusion Festival
The inaugural festival takes place from June 3 to June 12, at two iconic venues, in UK’s second-biggest city. These include ‘Odeon Luxe Birmingham Broadway Plaza’ and ‘Mac Birmingham: Midlands Arts Centre’. Film Hub Midlands, British Film Institute (BFI), BFI Film Audience Network (FAN), and The National Lottery are supporting the festival. The Indie festival will showcase ten plus films, giving a voice to the voiceless. It will also provide a platform for alternative cinema. The festival aims to promote diversity and equality that is stimulating, educational, and inspirational, with a super programme mix, talent, discussions and much more.
The films showing will fall under different categories, and cross over the main festival strands. These include feature, documentary, and short films of substance, entertainment and infotainment, reflective of various genres.
Director of DESIblitz and Film Fusion Festival Executive Director, Indi Deol said: “The DESIblitz Film Fusion Festival has been created for those who love independent and challenging cinema. The team have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring to fruition a number of UK exclusives hailing from India, Pakistan and the UK for our audience in Birmingham. We have a long history of supporting and working with content creators and with more established film festivals over the years. However, we have longed to create a festival that combines Punjabi, Pakistani and British Asian cultures, along with highlighting sports in a unique way. At the same time, Film Fusion also aims to support new and emerging talent in film and cinema. This is why our festival was born.”
Here more about what you can expect from the festival here.