6th Dharamsala International Film Festival to be held at Upper TCV School
By Lobsang Tenchoe
DHARAMSALA, Oct 24: The 6th edition of Dharamsala International Film Festival(DIFF) has an impressive line-up of Independent features, documentaries, shorts and animation films from India and across the world, including the Indian premier of ‘Out of This World’, a newly restored version of journalist and writer Lowell Thomas’ fascinating account of his travels to Tibet in 1949.
“The DIFF scheduled to be held over Nov 2-5 at the Upper TCV School has an impressive line-up of 38 films; five children’s, eight shorts, six feature documentaries and nineteen feature narratives films to be screened for the audiences in the mountains.
The festival will open with Shubhashish Bhutiani’s critically acclaimed ‘Mukti Bhawan’ and call it a wrap with Rima Das’s ‘Village Rockstars’.
Four international film makers as well as a select group of Indian film makers are said to be attending the festival. The films will be screened at Upper TCV school’s Hermann Gmeiner and Dekyi Tsering hall.
Of the 38 films to be screened during the festival, none of them are Tibetan films. When enquired about the same, Tenzing Sonam, leading Tibetan filmmaker and the co-founder of DIFF said, “Though we received application from Tibetan film makers, none of them were quite up to the standard of independent and critically acclaimed films we screen at the festival. But we have noticed manifold improvements among the Tibetan film makers.”
DIFF is a non-profit undertaking presented by White Crane Arts & Media Trust founded by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam to promote contemporary art, cinema and independent media practices in the Himalayan region with an objective to create events, spaces and opportunities to nurture, encourage and develop contemporary forms of creative expression in the region.