In 2025, UKAFF will be in its 27 year and will take place between 1 May and 11 May 2025.
We invite filmmakers from around the globe to submit their works to the "Longing and Belonging" theme of the annual UK Asian Film Festival, a celebration of films that explore one of the most profound human experiences—the search for connection, identity, and purpose.
Theme: Longing and Belonging
In every corner of the world, people wrestle with feelings of longing—yearning for love, home, acceptance, or meaning—and the deep desire to find a place where they truly belong. Whether it’s a story of a displaced immigrant, a journey of self-discovery, a quest for love, or the tension between tradition and modernity, we are seeking films that creatively and thoughtfully delve into these emotional landscapes.
Your film could explore:
• Personal longing: The internal struggles for identity, self-acceptance, or reconciliation with the past.
• Cultural displacement: The experience of being torn between two worlds or searching for a new home.
• Relationships: The complex dynamics of belonging to or yearning for a family, community, or a lover.
• Existential search: Films that probe deeper questions about the meaning of life, home, and place in the world.
We encourage bold storytelling, fresh perspectives, and artistic experimentation. Whether your work is a quiet meditation on identity, a visually arresting experimental piece, or a character-driven narrative of migration or self-acceptance, we are eager to see how you interpret this timeless theme.
Whether it’s the ache of unfulfilled desires or the comfort of finding one’s place in the world, we are seeking films that poignantly reflect the many facets of longing and belonging.
The theme can be interpreted broadly—your film may explore the inner struggles of identity, cultural displacement, love and loss, the pursuit of dreams, or the longing for a place, person, or sense of self.
We welcome feature films, documentaries, short films, long shorts, animations, and experimental works from filmmakers worldwide.
In 2025, UKAFF will be in its 27 year and will take place between 1 May and 11 May 2025.
We invite filmmakers from around the globe to submit their works to the "Longing and Belonging" theme of the annual UK Asian Film Festival, a celebration of films that explore one of the most profound human experiences—the search for connection, identity, and purpose.
Theme: Longing and Belonging
In every corner of the world, people wrestle with feelings of longing—yearning for love, home, acceptance, or meaning—and the deep desire to find a place where they truly belong. Whether it’s a story of a displaced immigrant, a journey of self-discovery, a quest for love, or the tension between tradition and modernity, we are seeking films that creatively and thoughtfully delve into these emotional landscapes.
Your film could explore:
• Personal longing: The internal struggles for identity, self-acceptance, or reconciliation with the past.
• Cultural displacement: The experience of being torn between two worlds or searching for a new home.
• Relationships: The complex dynamics of belonging to or yearning for a family, community, or a lover.
• Existential search: Films that probe deeper questions about the meaning of life, home, and place in the world.
We encourage bold storytelling, fresh perspectives, and artistic experimentation. Whether your work is a quiet meditation on identity, a visually arresting experimental piece, or a character-driven narrative of migration or self-acceptance, we are eager to see how you interpret this timeless theme.
Whether it’s the ache of unfulfilled desires or the comfort of finding one’s place in the world, we are seeking films that poignantly reflect the many facets of longing and belonging.
The theme can be interpreted broadly—your film may explore the inner struggles of identity, cultural displacement, love and loss, the pursuit of dreams, or the longing for a place, person, or sense of self.
We welcome feature films, documentaries, short films, long shorts, animations, and experimental works from filmmakers worldwide.
