The festival’s Short Film Competition winner was Shubhashish Bhutiani’s Kush.

Jeffrey D Brown’s child trafficking drama Sold, starring Gillian Anderson, has won the London Indian Film Festival’s Pure Heaven audience award.

The film, which centres around a young Nepali girl’s struggle for survival after being sold into prostitution, opened the 5th edition of the London Indian Film Festival, which ran July 10-17. It is executive produced by Emma Thompson.

The runner up for the audience award was Samruddhi Porey’s Hemalkasa, the festival’s closing night film starring Indian cinema icon Nana Patekar.

The festival’s Satyajit Ray Foundation Short Film Competition was won by Shubhashish Bhutiani’s Kush. The award carries a cash prize of £1000.

Festival director Cary Sawhney said: “We’ve grown by at least 30% this year and we’re getting global films! We’ve got Hollywood films in the festivals, Indian films, British films, Bangladeshi films, Pakistani films and it’s all happening in the heart of London, the only city where this kind of engaging range of cinema is embraced. It’s great”.

Highlights of the festival included the UK premiere of The Walt Disney Company’s Indian-themed Million Dollar Arm, followed by a Q&A by star Madhur Mittal and producer Mark Ciardi, Gillian Anderson’s Q&A on opening night along with Jeffrey D Brown and Jane Charles and sold out screen talks and masterclasses at the British Film Institute delivered by Santosh Sivan ASC (The Terrorist) and Farhan Akhtar (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag).