Awards season is here in London this weekend, and with it comes South Asian films.
“We are living in incredibly worrying and dangerous times, especially in the United States,” two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Geeta Gundbir told guests Friday at the South Asian Emerging Industries Gathering in London during BAFTA Film Awards weekend. “It was the great Spike Lee who gave me my first film opportunity. It was the black community in the United States that really opened the door for me, and I stand on their shoulders. We are fighting this battle, but what happens in the United States has ripple effects all over the world. We speak up for ourselves and we are here for us – but we need you for others during this time. Together we are stronger.”
Gundbil has dual representation at this year’s Academy Awards. Her documentary The Perfect Neighbor was nominated for both the BAFTA and Best Documentary Feature Oscars, and The Devil Is Busy, co-directed with Crystallyn Hampton, is nominated for Best Documentary Short. Gundbiel has won two Primetime Emmy Awards for editing.
The event, held at BAFTA headquarters, was co-hosted by Society O, a new British cultural platform dedicated to amplifying Asian voices in theatre, film and television, and US-based strategy and distribution company Product of Culture. Designed as a dedicated space for awards season, it brings together nominees, filmmakers, executives and industry leaders.
Two further BAFTA-nominated titles were recognized at the event. Lewis Hyndman, director of Majid/Zafar, which was nominated for the British Short Film Award, gave a moving reflection on the importance of the award. “When a film is very specifically, unapologetically British Asian film, you don’t expect it to be appreciated, you don’t feel entitled to it, you don’t see any evidence of it,” he said. “It’s an incredibly humbling feeling to see evidence of that, and to have it be our own film. Come Sunday, we’ll be taking this film into a space that’s not dominated by South Asia. We’re happy to be invited to take a pickaxe to the glass ceiling, but we can’t overstate the importance of starting this weekend here with you.”
Rahul Sharda, assistant director of ‘Boon’, nominated in the Children’s & Family Film category and directed by Laxmipriya Devi, said the event highlighted the growing international demand for Indian regional films. “India has such a diverse range of cultural perspectives and it’s great to see regional storytelling emerge and be celebrated internationally at BAFTA.”
The night also served as a reunion for the cast of the ground-breaking BBC sketch comedy series Goodness Gracious Me, which aired from 1998 to 2001 and had one-off specials in 2014 and 2015, becoming a landmark for British Asian representation on television. The show’s four leads – Sanjeev Bhaskar, who starred in ‘Unforgotten’ and ‘The Kumars at No.42’; Meera Char, BAFTA Fellowship winner, award-winning actor-novelist and screenwriter of Anita and Me. Kulvinder Gill, a stage and screen veteran. And Nina Wadia, known to millions for her long-running role in EastEnders, is co-starring for the first time in 10 years. Other guests included Aziz Ansari, Adil El Arbi, Daniel Francis, Adeel Akhtar, Varada Setu, Alan McCarex, Sufiyaan Salam, Richie Mehta and Gurinder Chadha.
Society O was founded by filmmakers Sukki Menon (“I See Her”) and Parvinder Shergill (“Kaur”). Products of Culture, a company founded by women of color and run by Archana Misra Jain and Monika Sharma Abbas, has partnered with Netflix, Universal Studios, Sony, HBO, and Mehta to host events such as the South Asian Women Oscar Brunch and the American South Asian Film Festival.
“This year’s nominations highlight the breadth and influence of South Asian creatives across the industry, from internationally distributed documentaries and award-winning British short films to groundbreaking regional films reaching new audiences around the world,” said Menon and Shergill, along with Misra Jain and Sharma Abbas. “By bringing together nominees, collaborators, and industry leaders, we aim to create a meaningful space that celebrates artistic excellence while strengthening the connections that will shape the future of the screen industry.”
