The vitals:
7:00 ~ Doors
7:30 ~ BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM presented by INDIE MEME
Part of Indie Meme Presents: Gaysi in the U.K.

When Gurinder Chadha first approached David Beckham - then a rising star and a gay icon - about Bend it Like Beckham, he was hesitant. “He loves the concept and girls playing football” his rep said, but couldn’t sign on yet “in case the film is rubbish.” Good instincts! ​Two years later, Bend It Like Beckham surpassed Scorpion King in the UK charts, catapulted Keira Knightley to fame, and gave thespian Parminder Nagra the opportunity to play a doctor on TV (personally, I think she’d have elevated Pirates of the Caribbean).

Bend It Like Beckham draws on all of this foundation to be the biggest breakout film starring a South Asian lead in the West…ever. It’s hilarious and incredibly quotable:​ “Lesbian? Her birthday’s in March, I thought she was a Pisces”; “I didn’t ask to be good at football, Guru Nanak must have blessed me”. 

It also interrogates race, gender and class dynamics in Southall through the format of a sports movie. 

Chadha cut her teeth interrogating British Asian identity and Asian Underground culture with the documentary​ “I’m British But…”. She then sharpened her eye for observational, character driven drama-comedies and ensemble casts with Bhaji on the Beach, featuring none other than Jess’s mother as a jacket-clad lesbian-coded Punjabi here to show the girls a good time (ie. take aunties out for a beach day).

-Ananyaa Ravi, President and Programming Team, Indie Meme 

SEE YOU AT THE MOVIES
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