The Hills are Alive

"It is crucial for small towns to have cultural spaces that can bring communities together. We thought the festival would be an important endeavour in that direction," says Ritu Sarin (right).

THE popularity of the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) lies in the fact that it isn’t like other regular festivals. The scenic venue, located on the edge of the Himalayas in Dharamshala, promises an 'intimate' experience for its visitors over a long weekend - November 2 to 5. Its schedule allows enough room for delegates to watch the movies - which are carefully picked by festival directors Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam - as well as interact with the visiting filmmakers and fellow movie buffs.

The festival is the brainchild of documentary filmmakers Sarin and Sonam, who have made Dharamshala their home for the last two decades. "There was a dearth of cultural activities of any kind in Dharamshala. It is crucial for small towns to have cultural spaces that can bring communities together. We thought the festival would be an important endeavour in that direction," says Sarin. Described as an "alternative, boutique, independent film festival", the annual event was first held in 2012. The festival showcases an eclectic mix of the best of independent features, documentaries, shorts and animation films from India and around the world. Over the last six years, it has come to enjoy "a lot of warmth from the locals, film communities and independent filmmakers". According to Sarin, the festival’s main draw, apart from being intimate, is the fact that it is not competitive.

From the beginning, the festival’s agenda has been to showcase independent cinema. "Our aim is to bring independent cinema to the mountains," says Sonam. Throughout the year, Sarin and Sonam lookout for interesting movies. "We make the selection after watching a lot of movies. Film programmers send their suggestions to us too," says Sarin. Since the festival has a small team, it is not equipped to take entries. "It would be hard for us to go through the number of films that might come in," says Sarin. According to Sonam, they pick the films that resonate with their audience and them. "Thematically, they are human stories which have a message," he adds.

The upcoming edition will open with Shubhashish Bhutiani's acclaimed debut Mukti Bhawan and it will be presented by the lead actor Adil Hussain. The other major attractions in the 'feature section' are A Death in the Gunj by Konkona Sen Sharma; Amit Masurkar-directed Newton, which is India’s entry for the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Film; Nepal's Oscar entry White Sun, directed by Deepak Rauniyar; and Lijo Jose Pellissery's crime drama Angamally Diaries. Rima Das's Village Rockstars, which is the current favourite in the festival circuit, will bring down the curtains with the delightful account of a girl's pursuit to own a guitar.

The highlights, this year, also include the Indian premiere of Out of This World - a newly restored version of journalist and writer Lowell Thomas' account of his travels in Tibet in 1949. This would be presented by filmmaker David Wright, and the screening will be attended by Thomas's granddaughter Anne Donaghy. The festival will screen two award-winning documentaries - Kirsten Johnson's Cameraperson and Rahul Jain's Machines. Other major documentaries on the DIFF schedule are Polish filmmaker Anna Zamecka's documentary Communion and Pakistani director Arshad Khan's Abu.

A bunch of international and Indian filmmakers will be travelling to the hill town this weekend. Japanese filmmaker Yoshinori Sato will present his feature Her Mother, while Israeli filmmaker Yaniv Berman will present Land of the Little People and Mano Khalil, a Swiss director of Kurdish-Syrian origin, will be there with The Swallow. Ralang Road's director Karma Takapa, Ashwathamma's director Pushpendra Singh, Pellissery and Sen Sharma will also attend the festival.

This year, DIFF will be hosting a children's programme, curated by the director of the South Asia Children's Cinema Forum, Monica Wahi, for the third time, as they reach out to more young viewers. The selection includes an animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's book Revolting Rhymes; Dutch children's feature The Day My Father Became a Bush, directed by Nicole van Kilsdonk; and Suresh Eriyat's animated short The Tokri.