London Indian Film Festival (LIFF), one of the largest celebrations of Indian films in the UK, is set to honour filmmaker Shyam Benegal posthumously at its 2026 edition, festival director Cary Sawhney has said.
LIFF is scheduled to be held around June to July next year.
“We'll be reflecting on filmmakers like Shyam Benegal, who passed, and we want to make sure that his memory and legacy live on. We're aiming to do one of Shyam's films; it's important to show the films and talk about the work,” Sawhney told news agency PTI.
LIFF 2026 is also set to screen multiple restored classics from the 1950s.
“A lot of the 1950s films are being restored, which is quite fascinating. We're talking to some of the great Indian filmmakers who are having their anniversaries next year. So, we can't give away the names yet,” added Sawhney.
Benegal left a mark on the film industry during the 1970s and 1980s with films including Ankur, Mandi and Manthan. The filmmaker passed away at the age of 90 in 2024.
LIFF 2026 will also showcase the diversity of Indian cinema by screening a diverse variety of films in multiple languages, including Punjabi, Gujarati, Assamese, and South Indian.
“We're actively looking for films in Punjabi or Gujarati (language) to represent our big audiences from those communities so we can put that out there but they have to be good quality films. We are actively looking for films from South India because of the underrepresentation and the overrepresentation of Hindi language in the UK,” Sawhney told PTI.
He added, “We're also looking out for women filmmakers, LGBTQ stories. So, at any festival in the world, there may be so many good films, but what we're looking for is a unique story.”