London Indian Film Festival 2015 My Highlights

Memorable moments from LIFF

If I could combine all my favourite pastimes they would come together and create the week that was this year's The Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival (LIFF). An opportunity to lose myself in stories, meet inspiring people and get dressed up: it was as perfect as a week can get.

LIFF LAUNCH

Red carpet launch night (Pic by Calvin Chinthaka)

LIFF showcases independent cinema with a South Asian theme by curating a series of events, talks, Q&As and film screenings. This year marked their 6th festival and there were 20 films screened over two cities (London and Birmingham).  The festival opened with a Red Carpet event attended by filmmakers and film fans as well as many of the people involved in the selected films such as actors, directors and producers. Spot my lilac mop in the crowd? I covered the event for Asiana.tv, which you can watch here in this rather neat little video. More on who I interviewed later in this post...first I'm going to take you through the films I watched and reviewed, the Q&As I led, then later, touch on the outfits I wore (the most important bit!)

LIFF Films

The settings, characters and situations I encountered during the London Indian Film Festival had me feeling engrossed, emotional, shocked, happy, sad..captured in my reviews:

31st October A haunting account of a families fight for survival. See review.

Dhanak A sweet and tender reminder of why you should believe in your dreams. See review.

Khwada Step inside a world of solitude and sacrifice. See review.

One Crazy Thing London love, captured with humour and heart. See review. 

Tigers A compelling real-life account of the Nestle baby milk scandal. See review. 

Q&As

A still from Nachom-Ia-Kumpasar

The Q&A element of a film festival is what makes them such a special and unique event. It's one thing to watch a film, but something else, to hear first-hand about the filmmaking process. It's an amazing opportunity that few movie watchers get, and until now, I've been in awe of these sessions. It always leaves me inspired to hear from Film Directors, actors and producers - you discover such unexpected tales. So when I was asked to lead four Q&As for LIFF I was thrilled; I wasn't just one of the people sitting in the audience learning stuff, I was able to play a role in shaping the Q&As. Wow!

Nachom-Ia-Kumpasar won the Audience Award at LIFF and in the festival's history is the most popular film to have been screened with three sold out showings. The final one took place at Wembley Cineworld and was attended by the film's Executive Producer and his wife who flew in from France to attend the screening. The crowd-funded film is a celebration of the Goa jazz scene of the 1960s and it includes 20 hit songs in the Goan language of Konkani.

The movie's Executive Producer and his wife

The auditorium stayed packed for the Q&A, people stayed behind even though it was a Monday night and they had just sat through an epic 2.45 hour film. This was my view from the stage - it looks intimidating but it wasn't because I knew that everyone in the audience loved the film and with so much passion in the air, nothing could go wrong.

Full house for the screening and post film Q&A

Still from One Crazy Thing

The Q&A for One Crazy Thing was attended by lead actor Ray Panthaki and Director Amit Gupta. A British romantic comedy set in London town, my favourite part of this Q&A was that there were several people in the audience who had never heard of the film, they just turned up to watch it as it sounded like something different. This is the great thing about film festivals they bring films to new audiences who otherwise wouldn't watch. 

Me & actor Ray Panthaki

Director Amit Gupta

Chilling in the BFI Green Room

The experience I'll never forget though is leading the Q&A for documentary Meet The Patels with Director Geeta Patel at the BFI, the BFI....the actual BFI aka the British Film Institute. An iconic building in an iconic part of London, representing everything that's iconic about cinema in the UK, it's going down in history as one of the highlights of my life : )
A comedy-documentary, there was lots of laughter in the audience throughout the film which led to a fun and lively Q&A.

On stage at The BFI with Director Geeta Patel

Afterwards there was a chance to pose with the wonderful BFI LIFF team and Geeta, who flew in from the US just for the screening, and was shortly heading off to take the film about her family, to another international festival.

LIFF LAUNCH:

With cameraman Shevy Sandhu aka Team Green

I love a spot of Red Carpet reporting. It's mad, hectic, tiring but really fun as you never know who you'll get to speak to, when they'll turn up and how long you'll get with them. Best of all, the people who do speak to you are usually in really good moods. Having a cameraman and fellow #TeamGreen member (we co-ordinated as every great team should) who's cool, calm and collected like Shevy from Polar Bear Media helped too. 

The stars being papped on the Red Carpet

With Presenter and LIFF Ambassador Shay Grewal

A montage of some of the people I interviewed

The festival opened with the movie Umrika and I had a chance to speak to Director Prashant Nair and actors Suraj Sharma (best know for being the boy in The Life Of Pie) and Adil Hussain. The montage above shows some of the other  talented filmi peeps I also interviewed. Watch our video here. 

Festival Director and Founder Cary Rajinder Sawhney also guested on my radio show where we had a much more in-depth chat. The highlights of which you can read about here. 

LIFF SOCIAL:

The LIFF Wembley team

I love this photo. It's a reminder of the really lovely LIFF volunteers who help run the festival. Passionate about film and all so friendly, I had such fun working and chatting with them, especially the Wembley crew who I spent three evenings with.

With Fariha at the closing night for the screening of Death Of A Gentleman

Spotted! My hair twin, burlesque star Sukki Singapora

LIFF LOOKS:

It's not like I need an excuse to dress up, I do it for most occasions (aka leaving my flat!) but having a specific occasion is always must more exciting so just like the LIFF team curated the event, I curated my LIFF attending outfits. Considerations included tights:

....nail and bangle combinations

And numerous dresses! This was my absolute fave below. It was the first time I've ever 'borrowed' a frock, and ahem...I returned it with as massive rip in it..oops!

Find out more about it here...(a blog within a blog!)

Totally in love with my dress from Girl Meets Dress

For the launch night I had my make-up done, always a most luxurious of experience, especially when the make-up artist travelled across London especially for me. Thank you Fatin from Nina Ubhi Beauty & Hair Academy.

Beautified by Fatin from Nina Ubhi Beauty & Hair Academy

The rest of the week, I kept up the peacock theme. 

In fact I bought a new eyeshadow that I ended up wearing all festival.

Another make -up look

Told you it was a perfect week! 

Thank you to everyone I met over LIFF and to all the people who were involved in any capacity. It's a brilliantly curated festival. The only trouble is, now I want to visit India. Sounds like another trip is on the cards soon...

I Finally Joined Instagram

Every week someone asks me why I'm not on Instagram. I've always thought it would be too much - I just couldn't see where and how I could fit it into my already manic schedule . But yesterday (we're now half way through the year) I felt a pang of dissatisfaction with life. I haven't been as creative as I want to be. I stare at computer screens so much these days for writing, that crafts and visual inspiration has taken a back seat but it's time to switch. I go through phases and right now I just want to satisfy my aesthetic senses. I aim only to post craft related images that I have taken, that will become my own creative moodboard. If you're on Instagram, follow me at The_CraftCafe...where you'll be treated to pics like these...

I'm absolutely loving seeing everyone's creative inspiration too, if you have a colourful Instagram account then let me know in the comments and I'll follow you. Or please do recommend anyone else that I should be following. 
Here's to some more happy snapping!

p.s If you aren't on Instagram you can still keep track of my photos online here.

How To Decoupage A London Themed Chair

A recent Vine post of mine showing how I decorated a chair has been getting a lot of love (and 150,000 views) so here's a more detailed description of how I did it. Decoupage is essentially one of the easiest craft techniques there is. A wee bit time consuming, but the results are always epic, especially when you go for large-scale projects like furniture.

You will need:

A piece or furniture (I used a red chair that I bought in a charity shop for £4)

Wrapping paper of your choice with motifs of (this one is City Pop-Outs London, designed by Matt Ponting from Doodling Around (around 4 sheets)
Can of spray mount and newspaper
Pot of Modge Podge (available from craft shops) or clear varnish
Brush, scissors, plastic gloves

Get going!

Cut out the motifs, in this case London buildings and landmarks. For the best result don't leave space around them, cut out each piece, up to the edges of each line. This is this time consuming part, I did the cutting out while watching several movies. 

Once done, marvel at the pretty pieces.

Lay out the newspaper and place the cut out pieces facing downwards. Spray the back with spray mount (glue in a can) then smooth each on to the piece of furniture.

The trick to decoupage is not being too perfectionist, don't make too many plans, just stick each piece down at different angles, as haphazardly as you like. 

Be prepared for lots of overlapping, your fave motifs may get covered up but fear not, you can always stick another one on top. It's important to ensure every end is glued down. 

Once you're happy with the design (you can go for full coverage but I left some gaps of red, as I liked the colour of the chair) either paint over the whole chair with clear varnish or a couple of layers of Modge Podge, depending on what you can get hold of. 

And Viola! 

The finished chair was displayed on Doodling Around's stand at PULSE a gift trade fair last month. It also got lots of attention, but alas it wasn't for sale. 

It's the ultimate London chair!

I did however help out on the stand, giving away some free sheets and encouraged people to have a go at DIYing it themselves.

I love decoupaged furniture. It's a way to quickly transform things, either with just a few pieces, for some detail, or try going to town with full coverage. You can buy special 'decoupage paper' but from experience any paper goes - wrapping paper, comic books, magazines all work perfectly, just avoid anything too thick.

Happy cutting & sticking!

Visiting Labyrinth Bridge: Daytrip to West Wycombe Park (where they filmed the opening scene of the movie)

I've been a huge fan of the Jim Henson movie Labyrinth (1986) for many years and actively follow 'fan' related stuff on the internet. Last year through social media I heard it was possible to visit the location of where they shot the opening scene of the film and I knew immediately that I had to make a fan pilgrimage there. I finally chose Sunday...

In the opening scene, the lead character Sarah, played by Jennifer Connelly is seen reciting a passage from a book called Labyrinth. But then the clock strikes, the heavens pour open and she realises she is late to babysit her brother, so she runs over a bridge in a park, in the rain, and then continues to run home. 

This is the bridge in question: a still taken from the film...(circa 1986/85)

And this is it now, in 2015...located in West Wycombe Park.

West Wycombe Park is located just outside of London. I caught a train from London Marylebone to High Wycombe and then walked 2.9 miles to get to the park. There are buses that go there (but only 3 a day on a Sunday) it's advisable to drive but as the sun was out, a stroll there seemed like a good idea, even if it did end up taking an hour. The park are the grounds of a manor house which is still lived in by a family. Finding The Bridge was not as easy as I had expected - there are in fact many bridges in the park. I walked around it twice inspecting every bridge from different angles until I finally worked out which one it was.

See what I mean - there were many beautiful bridges at the park...

In the end my companion Worm, (a character who appears in the movie) spotted the exact location.

The original worm from the movie

As I knew I was on a mission to find The Labyrinth Bridge I wore my special owl dress which represents the male lead in the film The Goblin Kind, Jareth, played by David Bowie - whose character often disguises himself as an owl.

David Bowie & Jennifer Connelly in character

I videoed myself running across the bridge too in true Fan style! 

The rest of the park is Stunning. Visitors can either pay to only visit the gardens or the house and the gardens. I paid £5 for the grounds only. Sitting in this park is the perfect way to spend a free afternoon. You're not allowed to picnic here but just sitting down and taking in the epic views is enough to revive, refresh and de-stress you. The park is a good size, not too overwhelming. 

I sat back and watched swans and ducks, this handsome one caught my eye as I had not seen this variety before and there was only one. 

The park is only open 2pm-6pm and it's possible to spend all four hours there simply taking it all in. I love parks, I go to them at every given opportunity and am blessed to have so many great parks in London, but I have never been to a park like this before. It truly does have a magical feel to it, an air of fantasy and a little taste of what heaven must be like.

Here are the opening hours - they are sadly very limited but then it is someone's home so I guess they like to keep it to themselves too.

Just across from the park is West Wycombe's Hell-Fire caves, I didn't get a chance to visit them on this trip but if you follow the signs up a hill you can look down and get great views of the park (you can just about see the house in the distance.)

The house doesn't have a tea room but there a couple in the village just outside the park. I chose to have mine at West Wycombe Community library - which is the finest public library I've ever seen. Outside are chairs and tables to eat tea alfresco, while inside is a wonderful public library with sofas, surrounded by handmade items for sale.

I bought thus cushion which was made by one of the librarians, she was very sad to see it go but I promised to give it a good home.

I timed my visit to get the last bus of the day back into town which left at exactly 18.14 on the dot. While we were waiting, Worm made himself a friend; a giant snail. I think we'll need to come back again so they can visit eachother.

Never watched Labyrinth? A few years ago it was really hard to do so. I spent six years on a waiting list to get hold of a VHS copy (no really!!!) but now it's easily obtainable on DVD is regularly shown at cinemas and is also on You Tube. (It's up to you if you choose to watch it for free, but what I would say is if you watch the first couple of minutes you can at least see the shot I'm talking about!)

Thanks:
The following people inspired me to go on this pilgrimage
LabyrinthWiki, Anthony & The Trevi Owl.