Sandhya Suri’s Santosh in London Film Festival’s competition strand

Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri’s female-centric thriller “Santosh” is in the running for the First Film Competition Sutherland Award at this year’s BFI London Film Festival , which includes several new Indian entries as well as Shyam Benegal’s classic “Manthan”.

The Sutherland Award recognises the “most original and imaginative” directorial debut and “Santosh”, starring Shahana Goswami, will be competing alongside other international features at LFF, which runs from October 9-20.

“Sandhya Suri’s deft thriller is a complex character study of a female cop whose moral conflict lays bare the oppression perpetuated in the name of caste,” reads the LFF programme.

In July, “Santosh” won Suri the best first feature film award at the Jerusalem Film Festival 2024.

Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner “All We Imagine as Light” and Reema Kagti’s “Superboys of Malegoan” are among the other Indian entries at the annual film festival showcasing over 250 features, shorts, series and immersive works from 79 countries.

“The real joy of LFF for me is seeing the hard work of so many talented filmmakers come to life and given the prominence and noise that they deserve,” said Ben Roberts, chief executive of the British Film Institute .

While in “Superboys of Malegaon” which had its world premiere on Saturday at the Toronto International Film Festival Kagti chronicles the “heart-warming” true story of Nasir Shaikh as he crowdsources a wave of ingenious spoof films that become a national phenomenon, “All We Imagine as Light” depicts a “profound and deeply humanist meditation” on urban migration and dislocation.

“Sister Midnight”, a genre-bending comedy by Indian director Karan Kandhari, and Indian American true to life tale “A Nice Indian Boy” by filmmaker Roshan Sethi make up the other Indian themes for the 2024 line-up across different film festival strands.

“Cinematic ideas materialise in many forms, and this year artists have taken us to some giddy highs and poked at our tender underbellies. Troubled histories linger close to the surface alongside optimistic futures, all explored in unique and creative ways,” said Kristy Matheson, director of BFI London Film Festival.

Restored by the Film Heritage Foundation, “Manthan” revisits the Shyam Benegal directed 1976 film famously funded by 500,000 farmers in rural Gujarat.

“Based on the true story of the world’s biggest dairy development programme, this is an extraordinary portrait of social change and the power of cinema itself,” reads the LFF programme about the film whose 4K restored version was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Now in its 68th year, the BFI London Film Festival will open with the premiere of British filmmaker Steve McQueen’s Second World War epic “Blitz” on October 9 and close with American filmmaker Morgan Neville’s Lego animation “Piece by Piece” on October 20.

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