The 8th edition of the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) was hosted in Mcleodganj from 7-10 November. This year, the festival featured films from countries such as Japan, Spain, Germany, UK, USA, France, Switzerland, Macedonia, Cambodia, Palestine, Portugal, Netherlands and India among others. Some of the major films screened at DIFF 2019 included Pedro Costa’s Vitalina Varela, Prateek Vats’s Eeb Allay Ooo!, Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Jallikattu, Gitanjali Rao’s Bombay Rose, Kazuhiro Soda’s Inland Sea, Jesse Alk’s Pariah Dog, Kislay’s Aise Hee, and Ali Jaberansari’s Tehran: City of Love among others.
This year, DIFF also introduced a Gender Sensitivity Award, in association with the Film Critics Guild. The award was bestowed upon Priya Sen’s documentary Yeh Freedom Life. “The award is put together by the Film Critics Guild. They approached us with the idea, and for us gender sensitivity has always been a very important issue. Last year, too, we had a #MeToo conversation. And we also have a safe policy—we want to make this a safe place for everyone. Our films are already talking about these issues and so I feel that the Gender Sensitive Award is really a very valuable addition to our festival. The films were nominated by us and the award was decided by the Film Critics Guild,” said festival director Ritu Sarin.
Also, for the first time this year, DIFF accepted film submissions. “We have been travelling to a lot of festivals with our own films and I have spoken to a lot of film programmers around the world about the possibility of opening up nominations. A few programmers recommended it to us very strongly. So, based on that, we opened the festival up for submissions. And actually, it has really been rewarding because our opening night film Eeb Allay Ooo!, as well as our closing night film Bombay Rose, came through film submissions,” added Sarin.
Tenzing Sonam, also a festival director at DIFF, has a particular fondness for films that are about human and social relationships. “I really love Tehran: City of Love. It is such a sweet and evocative film about life in Tehran with ordinary people, the kind of people you don’t expect to be living in a city like Tehran. For instance, in this film there is a bodybuilder who is gay. When you think of Tehran and Iran you don’t think such people exist. The film is essentially about three stories that are interconnected. Also, it’s very nicely made. Vitalina Varela is another favourite of mine. It’s so spectacular in terms of storytelling, philosophy, and it is beautifully shot. It is about losing someone and then coming to terms with it. Pedro Costa is one of those maverick filmmakers totally committed to their vision. One of the editors of the film was our intern at DIFF,” said Sonam.
This year, the festival returned to its original venue, the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), after having hosted its previous few editions at the Tibetan Children’s Village. TIPA has two regular auditoriums for movie screenings and a third one was added— a mobile digital movie theatre facility called PictureTime, which served as an exciting attraction for film enthusiasts at the festival.
Sushil Chaudhary, CEO of PictureTime, got associated with the festival last year. “When I met Ritu last year I really liked the vision behind DIFF. Before our association they used to have normal screenings using projectors. That’s when I suggested to her that she should have a more professional setup in place powered by 2K systems. So last year at the Tibetan Children’s Village we took the responsibility to provide all the technical support for the screenings. This year at TIPA we are again in charge. It’s about providing the best possible cinematic experience to film enthusiasts,” explained Chaudhary.
Noted actor Adil Hussain returned to DIFF this year to deliver a talk titled “The Art of Acting”. The Life of Pi actor is in love with the picturesque city of Dharamshala, but above all he is fond of the manner in which the festival is conducted. “DIFF represents for me what a film festival should be. There is so much glamour associated with cinema that often one finds it difficult to get away from all the gloss and glitter. The fact that there is no red carpet here is the best part. You see it is important that the story becomes the star. Actors for me are just vehicles of the storytelling process. For me that’s the most important aspect of any film or play for that matter. And DIFF maintains that. So that’s what brings me to DIFF again and again,” said Hussain.
At this edition of the festival, there was an exclusive children’s segment, curated by Monica Wahi. One of the films screened under this segment was Vinod Kamble’s Kastoori, which tells the story of a teenage boy who assists his father in post-mortem work. “Since the boy is involved in manual scavenging and post-mortem work, his friends tease him over the smell that emanates from his body. He tries all types of scents to mask the smell but nothing works. A friend tells him about the scent of kastoori, deer musk, which can mask all kinds of bad odours. So he goes on a quest to acquire it,” explained Kamble.
Jai Sharma’s short film Gadhedo was part of another special segment at DIFF 2019, called “Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films”. This short film stars Chandan Roy Sanyal, who was present at the screening. “Jai hails from Jodhpur. The film is based on a Rajasthani folktale. It’s a funny film with a strong comical touch to it. It’s about a naive washer man who thinks that the village teacher can turn his donkey into a man,” explained Sanyal.
Prateek Vats’ Eeb Allay Ooo! was easily the best received film at the festival. It revolves around people who try to imitate the hoots of a langur in order to scare monkeys away from the government offices in New Delhi. Interestingly, the film’s title became such a popular catchphrase with the children in McLeod Ganj that they were spotted using it with real-world monkeys. “This is my first time here. The thing about DIFF is that words like warm and intimate automatically come to mind. Here anybody can meet us and we can meet anyone. Ultimately cinema is all about connecting with people and I think a festival like this offers just that. The response to our film has been so heartening. We have seen children outside shouting ‘Eeb Allay Ooo’ to scare away the monkeys. People have come down from far off places to watch our films. It’s really been a humbling experience,” said the film’s lead, Shardul Bhardwaj.
Around September, the festival directors were considering scrapping this year’s edition, owing to funding issues. But somehow Ritu and Tenzing managed to host the 8th edition despite the budgetary constraints. However, what’s really heartening is that the festival now has the backing of Adil Hussain and Sushil Chaudhary. “Dharamshala International Film Festival is very close to my heart. This is the second year of my association with it. I understand that the festival, despite its fan following, is struggling a bit with the finances. So the festival is being revamped and restructured in order to come up with a commercially sustainable model. Adil Hussain Ji and I have promised to support that sustainable structure for the coming years. I genuinely want this festival to grow and the first step is to make it self-sustainable,” said Chaudhary.
One hopes that DIFF organisers would be able to overcome the financial woes with this newfound support, so that the festival emerges stronger than ever in the upcoming editions.