Tongues on Fire

What Tongues on Fire does

Tongues on Fire is a UK-registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO 1209715, registered December 2024) founded in 1997 by Dr. Pushpinder Chowdhry MBE, headquartered in Pinner, London. It operates the UK Asian Film Festival (running annually since 1998; the 27th edition was held in 2025), the year-round Film Wallahs community film club, mental health programming, and special projects including a National Lottery Heritage Fund-backed Heritage Project. The organization serves the UK South Asian and diaspora communities alongside industry partners, academics, and mainstream cinema audiences.

The core product is curated film programming and cultural events delivered through a hybrid physical and virtual venue model. Underlying capabilities include festival curation, community engagement, partnership orchestration with broadcasters and universities, and heritage programming. No proprietary technology platform or AI/ML components are evident; delivery rests on conventional event management, venue operations, and digital streaming for virtual components.

The revenue model is a non-commercial charity stack: restricted and unrestricted grants from UK public funders (BFI, Arts Council England, DCMS, National Lottery Heritage Fund), corporate sponsorship (e.g., Phizzical, Sony TV), ticketing for in-person and virtual screenings, and ancillary community-programming income. There is no equity funding, no disclosed commercial product revenue, and no pricing model in the SaaS/transactional sense; sustainability is grant-cycle dependent.

Name

Tongues on Fire

Legal name

Tongues on Fire - Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)

Website

https://tonguesonfire.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Tongues on Fire is a UK charity (CIO 1209715) that has run the UK Asian Film Festival since 1998, alongside the Film Wallahs community film club, mental health programming, and heritage projects, serving the South Asian diaspora and broader UK cinema audiences.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Sponsorship and Fundraising: Tongues on Fire operates as a registered charity (CIO - 1209715) relying primarily on sponsorship revenue and public funding. The organisation actively seeks corporate sponsors through tailor-made sponsorship proposals targeting businesses wanting to engage South Asian audiences in the UK.
2. Public Funding: Supported by BFI awarding funds from the National Lottery, Arts Council England using funds from the National Lottery, and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Tongues on Fire is a UK charity that produces and curates cultural film and arts programming centred on South Asian cinema, headlined by the annual UK Asian Film Festival (UKAFF). Its portfolio includes the Film Wallahs free community film club, the Unspoken mental health film festival, Special Projects, a Heritage Project preserving the festival's legacy, a Short Film Competition, and masterclasses/workshops. Programming is delivered through hybrid physical-venue screenings across multiple UK cities plus online streaming via partner platforms.

Product overview

Tongues on Fire is a UK-based charity organization (CIO - 1209715) that operates primarily as a film festival and arts event producer. The core offering is the UK Asian Film Festival (UKAFF), the world's longest-running South Asian film festival outside India, complemented by Film Wallahs (a community film club), Mental Health Programs (including the Unspoken mental health film festival), and Special Projects. The organization also runs a Short Film Competition and Masterclasses/Workshops as part of its educational mission. A major Heritage Project is underway to preserve the festival's 30-year legacy through oral histories, archives, and documentary content. The portfolio operates as a unified cultural platform unified by its mission to celebrate South Asian storytelling, arts, and self-expression.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• UK Asian Film Festival: The flagship annual film festival celebrating South Asian cinema, running since 1998.
• Film Wallahs
• Unspoken: Mental Health Film Festival
• Special Projects

Quantifiable outcome

• Providing platform for emerging talent in South Asian cinema
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered major and core.

• SONY TVmajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 May 2023Broadcast partner for UK Asian Film Festival 2023 silver jubilee edition.
• Lyca RadiomajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 May 2023Broadcast partner providing radio coverage of the festival.
• Newham Community CinemacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 August 2022Presented exclusive screening of Ahimsa Gandhi for South Asian Heritage Month in partnership with UK Asian Film Festival.
• BFI (British Film Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 May 2022BFI Southbank is the primary venue for UK Asian Film Festival opening and closing galas. UK Asian Film Festival 2022 is supported by the BFI awarding funds from the National Lottery.
• Arts Council EnglandcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 May 2022UK Asian Film Festival 2022 is supported by Arts Council England using funds from the National Lottery and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
• Sunrise RadiomajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 May 2022Official power partner for UK Asian Film Festival, providing broadcast media support.
• DESIblitzmajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 May 2022Official Online Media Partner for UK Asian Film Festival, providing digital media coverage.
• Shorts TVmajorGTM or Marketing Partner · 4 May 2022TV Partner for UKAFF Short Film Competition, providing distribution and promotion for short film entries.
• PhizzicalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProducing partner for the festival, with Creative Director Samir Bhamra also serving as Artistic Director of Phizzical.
• BFI PlayermajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorVirtual streaming platform partner for online festival screenings.
• Modern FilmsmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorVirtual screening partner bringing selection of films throughout the festival online.
• Queen Mary University of LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner and home of Dr. Ashvin Immanuel Devasundaram, Associate Director of UKAFF. PI on AHRC-funded India-UK research project.
• De Montfort UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner, home of Indian Cinema Archive directed by Dr. Monia Acciari.
• Rich MixcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorKey venue partner in Shoreditch, London for festival screenings including London Premieres.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• South Asian Cinema Foundation: UK charity promoting South Asian cinema through screenings, education, and heritage work. Closely comparable in mission and UK community focus, particularly relative to Tongues on Fire's Heritage Project and academic partnerships.
• Raindance Film Festival: Independent UK film festival covering independent and international cinema with education and emerging talent programmes. Highly comparable in mission, scale, and talent development focus to Tongues on Fire's UKAFF and Short Film Competition.
• Tasveer South Asian Film Festival: US-based South Asian film festival (Seattle) with similar mission to amplify South Asian cinema and voices. Comparable in programming, filmmaker development, and community engagement, though operating in a different geography.
• London Indian Film Festival: UK-based festival dedicated to Indian and South Asian cinema, offering the most direct head-to-head comparison with Tongues on Fire for UK South Asian film audiences, sponsors, and BFI funding.
• East End Film Festival: London-based independent film festival with a focus on emerging and diverse voices. Directly comparable in scale, London-centric community festival model, and use of multiple venues across East London.

Broad incumbents

• BFI London Film Festival: The UK's flagship film festival, run by the BFI (a key Tongues on Fire funder and venue partner). It is a much larger, broader incumbent that competes for premium premieres and major sponsors while also lending institutional gravitas to UKAFF.
• Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF): One of the world's leading film festivals with a global South Asian cinema programme. Comparable as a scaled global festival model, though TIFF operates at vastly greater scale and commercial scope than UKAFF.
• Sheffield DocFest: UK documentary and screen industry festival with strong public funding and educational programming. Comparable in its multi-programme structure (festival + industry + talent development) and reliance on BFI/Arts Council funding, but operates at a larger scale and broader documentary remit.
• Edinburgh International Film Festival: Historic UK international film festival with global programming and significant public funding. Comparable as a multi-venue UK festival with hybrid virtual offerings, but much broader in scope than UKAFF's South Asian focus.
• Sundance Film Festival: Leading independent film festival focused on independent storytelling and emerging talent. Comparable in its mission to support independent and underrepresented voices, against which UKAFF's emerging filmmaker programmes are benchmarked.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tonguesonfire
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@tonguesonfire
• Facebookfacebook.com/UKAsianFilmFest
• Instagraminstagram.com/ukasianfilmfest
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/uk-asian-film-festival

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tongues on Fire