The 7th Edition Of Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) Announces Its Full Line-Up
The Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) which will be held from 1st Nov, 20p18 to 4th Nov, 2018 in the beautiful mountain town of McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala, home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama & the meeting point of a rich & cosmopolitan mix of people & cultures. The 7th edition of DIFF will build on the hallmarks that have given the festival its reputation as a cutting-edge event, an intimate & carefully curated festival in the Himalayas showcasing an eclectic mix of the best of independent features, documentaries, shorts & animation films from India & around the world.
Dar Gai’s Namdev Bhau: In Search of Silence will open & Ere Gowda’s Kannada debut feature Balekempa will close the 7th edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) 2018. Both directors will be present.
Manoj Bajpayee, the lead actor of Bhonsle, and internationally renowned photographer Raghu Rai will be attending the festival along with his filmmaker daughter Avani Rai for her debut documentary, Raghu Rai: An Unfinished Portrait.
Indian feature film directors Ere Gowda, Anamika Haksar, Devashish Makhija, Ridham Janve & Priya Ramasubban will be present.
International filmmakers attending the festival include Tashi Gyeltshen (Bhutan), Dar Gai (Ukraine), Mathieu Roy (Canada), Hiroshi Sunairi (Japan) & Luc Schaedler (Switzerland).
Indian short filmmakers Siddharth Chauhan, Sudha Padmaja Francis, Mukul Haloi, Rishi Chandna, Tarun Jain, Raghbir Singh Toor, Natesh Hagde, Abhijeet Phartiyal, Divya Unny, Pia Shah & Ajitpal Singh will also be present.
The DIFF 2018 lineup includes Indian fiction & documentary features: Balekempa, Bhonsle, Ee.Ma.Yau, Ghode Ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon, The Gold-Laden Sheep & the Sacred Mountain, Ma•ama, Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam’s The Sweet Requiem, Namdev Bhau: In Search of Silence & Raghu Rai: An Unfinished Portrait & international fiction & documentary features: 48 Years: Silent Dictator, A Long Way Home, Bamboo Dogs, Boom for Real, The Dispossessed, Father to Son, House of My Fathers, In the Intense Now, Little Forest, Namme, Of Fathers & Sons, The Red Phallus, Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda & Waru.
Short Films include: Amma Meri, Eye Test, Khurafat, Letter To Home, Namage Navu Godege Mannu, Pashi, Sakhisona, The Open Door, Tungrus & Two Brothers.
Children’s Films include: 2 features Chuskit, Cross My Heart & 4 shorts Abu Adnan’s Father, Beauty, Hadia (The Gift) & Rammat Gammat.
The Indian Programming highlights at the festival include Devashish Makhija’s Bhonsle, Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Ee.Ma.Yau, Ridham Janve’s Gaddi language feature film The Gold-Laden Sheep & Sacred Mountain, Dominic Sangma’s Garo language film Ma’ama & documentaries like Raghu Rai: An Unfinished Portrait by Avani Rai, Asia Premiere of Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam’s The Sweet Requiem which has its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2018 & Anamika Haksar’s Ghode ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon.
The International Programming highlights at the festival include the Indian Premieres of Hiroshi Sunairi’s 48 Years: Silent Dictator (Japan), TIFF 2017 Official Selection Waru (New Zealand), Tashi Gyeltshen’s The Red Phallus (Won FIPRESCI at Busan), Zaza Khalvashi’s Namme (official entry to Oscars from Georgia) & screenings of Yim Soon- Rye’s Little Forest (Korea), Hsiao Ya Chuan’s Father To Son (Taiwan) & documentaries Boom For Now (Sarah Driver, USA), In the Intense Now (João Moreira Salles, Brazil), A Long Way Home (Luc Scheadler, Switzerland) & Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (Stephen Nomura Schible, USA/Japan).
The popular DIFF Children’s Film Programme is once again curated by Children’s Media Specialist, Monica Wahi & the line-up includes 2 award-winning features, Chuskit (Priya Ramasubban, India) & Cross My Heart (Luc Picard, Canada) & 4 internationally acclaimed shorts, Rammat Gammat (Ajitpal Singh, India), Hadia the Gift (Sinem Sakaogl,Germany/Turkey), Father (AbuAdnan, Denmark), Beauty (Christina Willings,Canada)
DIFF has always recognized the importance of short films as a category in its own right & for the 5th year in a row, filmmaker Umesh Kulkarni has curated a selection of 10 shorts including Tungrus And Eye Test. Besides this, DIFF is partnering with Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films to present a package of short films.
This year, DIFF is thrilled to host the 1st ever Dharamshala PJLF Editing Workshop, an initiative supported by NFDC. The 2 selected projects are Where the Winds Blow by Director Karma Takapa & Editor Anadi Athaley, & 4Sum by Director Neeraj Gwal & Editor Rishiraj Bhattacharya. A third project, Chola, directed & edited by Sanal Sasidharan, was unanimously recommended by the selection committee & will receive editing consultation from the mentors. The projects will be mentored by internationally renowned editor Jacques Comets who co-headed the editing department at France’s leading film school, La Femis, along with editor & Artistic Director of the Kerala International Film Festival, Bina Paul & producer & script/editing mentor Olivia Stewart.
5 filmmakers from Himachal Pradesh, Rahat Mahajan, Aman Sharma, Mrinalini Singha, Vaasu Soni & Kesang Thakur will be mentored by renowned National Award-winning filmmaker Gurvinder Singh & award-winning documentary filmmaker Anupama Srinivasan in this year’s edition of DIFF Film Fellow initiative. The initiative, started in the year 2014, is supported by the HP Government’s Department of Language, Arts & Culture & this year focuses specially on filmmakers from Himachal Pradesh.
Riddham Janve’s Gaddi language debut feature, The Gold-Laden Sheep & Sacred Mountain & Shimla based filmmaker Siddharth Chauhan’s short film, Pashi, shot in Himachal Pradesh, are part of this year’s Spotlight on Himachal.
Talking about this year’s line-up at DIFF, Festival Director Ritu Sarin who along with Tenzing Sonam directed The Sweet Requiem which had its World Premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival averred, “It’s been 7 years since we embarked on this amazing journey & we’ve had so many good movies & happy memories.” She adds: “With each edition we’ve learnt new things & tried to improve DIFF as much as possible. As always, we have tried our best to put together a range of unusual & thought-provoking films, several of which are India premieres. Especially important to us is our community outreach programmes & initiatives to help young filmmakers. This year we’re thrilled to launch the 1st ever Dharamshala PJLF Editing Workshop in which 2 promising editor/director teams will benefit from mentorship from internationally renowned professionals. And we are very happy that our DIFF Film Fellows initiative this year is geared specifically to budding filmmakers from Himachal Pradesh.”
With an exciting line-up of films & events, DIFF 2018 promises to provide another unique, captivating cinematic experience against the backdrop of the dramatic Dhauladhar range.
The 7th edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival will be held in McLeod Ganj from 1st Nov, 2018 to 4th Nov, 2018. Filmmakers Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam, who are long-term residents of Dharamshala, initiated the festival in the year 2012, with the aim of bringing high-quality independent cinema to the mountains, encouraging local filmmaking talent & creating a meaningful platform to engage the area’s diverse communities.
DIFF is presented by White Crane Arts & Media, a trust founded by filmmakers Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam to promote contemporary cinema, art & independent media practices in the Himalayan regions of India.
The 1st ever edition of DIFF was held in the 2012. Since then, it has established itself as one of India’s leading independent film festivals. DIFF’s cutting-edge & eclectic programming, which includes many India premieres, and its policy of inviting as many directors as possible has made it one of the go-to events in any cinephile’s calendar. Last year, the films & side programmes at DIFF attracted a viewership of around 6000, of which at least 60% were from out of town from places as far away as Kerala, Bangalore, Hyderabad & Mumbai. Some of India’s best-known film critics & journalists from leading media houses were on hand to cover the event.
This year, for the 3rd time in a row, the festival will take place in the peaceful environs of Tibetan Children’s Village, a short distance from McLeod Ganj. Along with 2 existing auditoriums at the school, this year DIFF is excited to partner with Delhi-based Picture Time to set up a mobile digital theatre with state-of-the-art projection facilities at the festival venue.
