Film festival with a DIFFerence

Shailaja Khanna 

Now in its 7th edition, the Dharamsala Film Festival was held from November 1 to 4 in Dharamsala. Neither the largest, nor the most significant film festival (there are more than 12 film festivals held here annually), DIFF has acquired a unique Tibetan-centric identity. 

Brainchild of filmmaker Ritu Sarin and her husband Tenzing Sonam, the festival was a packed morning to evening whirl of films, workshops, discussions, interactions with international filmmakers and even a mentorship programme for young Himachali filmmakers. 

The venue was the playground of Tibetan school, with impromptu interview and recording spaces, stalls selling hot ginger-honey tea and coffee. Nearly 90 young volunteers from all over India buzzed around excitedly. Sarin’s family is from Dharamsala, where she has lived for over 25 years. As a filmmaker, she wants to “bring independent cinema to the mountains”. 

“Young people have to go outside Dharamsala, indeed outside Himachal, to get exposure to art and culture. I felt we should try and change that. Our focus is on the youth and also education. So, we started a mentorship programme. We show children’s films; invite hundreds of schools to come and see what films are about.” 

On the selection process, Ritu says she and her husband personally see every film that is screened. “Curation of the festival is important and Tibet remains an important subject,” she says. Ritu and Tenzing’s film “The Sweet Requiem” premiered at the festival, as did 10 other films including those from Bhutan, Japan, Switzerland, Brazil, South Korea, Georgia, Lebanon, US and Taiwan. There were over 25 full length films, as well as several short films, making it over 40 films in four days. Apart from films and the craft of filmmaking, actors, too, were seen holding important sessions. National Film awardee Manoj Bajpayee was in conversation with journalist Aseem Chhabra as his film Bhonsle, which released earlier this year, was screened as well. 

A discussion entitled “#Metoo and Independent India” raised several relevant points. Internationally acclaimed stalwarts Olivia Stewart and Jacques Cornets (who also conducted an editing workshop) spoke of the relevance of script and editing; the session was moderated by Bina Paul, the artistic director of the Kerala International Film Festival. A mentorship programme conducted by Kangra-based Punjabi filmmaker Gurvinder Singh and Delhi-based Anupama Srinivasan has possibly the longest outreach of the festival. 

Five talented Himachalis were selected from many applicants to be DIFF fellows. Their training started before the festival and involved daily six-hour intensive sessions. Rahat Mahajan from Nurpur, Kangra, was the closest candidate geographically; Kesang Thakur the farthest from Lahaul Spiti. Others were Aman Sharma from Shimla, Mrinalini Singha from Kotgarh and Vasu Soni from Kullu. Earlier, DIFF fellow and Shimla resident Siddharth Chauhan’s short film “Pashi” was screened this year. Siddharth has made two films earlier in 2015. The 100 young volunteers from all over India, several of whom were repeat visitors, are living testimony of the significance the event has acquired, as youngsters travelled and stayed at their own cost for the entire festival.