The organisers of the 38th Leeds International Film Festival have revealed further details about this year’s event.
Taking place in November across the city, it will have 2 Spotlight programmes featuring legendary actress Smita Patil and groundbreaking Leeds artist-filmmaker Stuart Croft.
Croft, who died of heart failure, aged 44, was an internationally recognised artist and filmmaker whose work sought to collapse the boundaries between the gallery and the cinema. He exhibited around the world, including New York, Venice, and Beijing.
In partnership with Leeds Art Gallery and The Stuart Croft Foundation, LIFF will present a special season of films that inspired his unique vision, paired with his own looping moving image works.
This is to complement the immersive exhibition Stuart Croft: Eternal Return at Leeds Art Gallery, which runs from November until April next year.
The second Spotlight, Celebrating Smita Patil: A Film Retrospective, will honour the work of the actress, who died in 1986 – aged just 31.
Patil made her screen debut in 1975 and over a period of just 11 years, she became regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Indian cinema – appearing in more than 80 films.
Collaborating with many of the best filmmakers of her generation, she became the iconic face of Parallel Cinema, India’s first post-colonial art film movement (1968 – 1995).
This retrospective aims to open a door into the world of Smita Patil, celebrating her films, activism and enduring stardom.
The full LIFF 2024 programme will be revealed in October, when tickets and passes will also go on sale.
The festival runs from 1st to 17th November at venues including Everyman Leeds, Vue Leeds in the Light, Hyde Park Picture House, and Howard Assembly Room.
