“The Dharamshala International Film Festival is my favourite film festival in India because there are no frills attached to it. It is purely about watching films and meeting people… there are opportunities to make real contact. This aspect makes it a really special and unique festival.”
– Adil Hussain, actor
“I think DIFF is amazing; your passion and commitment to create a film festival so completely engaged with life and society is so rare… For me it has definitely been the festival of the year.”
– Guy Davidi, director, 5 Broken Cameras
“I am not a great fan of film festivals and I seldom attend them as I find them too busy and there is too much hot air all around. This is truly the first film festival I have ever been to which I enjoyed. This festival truly is a celebration of cinema rather than a market place where you are trying to hustle.”
– Naseeruddin Shah, actor
When filmmakers and longtime Dharamshala residents Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam started the Dharamshala International Film Festival in 2012, their main aim was to give the local community a platform to watch good alternative cinema. Eight years later, DIFF has become one of India’s leading independent film festivals and draws audiences from across the country and further afield.
This year, the Covid-19 pandemic forced the world to unexpectedly and drastically change the way it functions. Everything we took for granted was uprooted and we were suddenly adrift in a strange and disturbing world with no bearings to help us navigate. In April, when India was under strict lockdown, we reached out to DIFF alumni filmmakers to ask if we could stream their films for free as a way of offering our audiences some respite from the unprecedented situation we found ourselves in. Their response was overwhelmingly generous and we launched the DIFF Viewing Room. The success of this initiative took us by surprise; audiences from around the world logged in to watch the films. This helped us to make the difficult decision to take DIFF online when it became apparent that there was no way we could hold a physical film festival in Dharamshala this year.
Although we will miss the pleasure of watching movies in a cinema setting, along with DIFF’s intimate and informal atmosphere and its special location in the mountains, the ninth edition of DIFF will continue to surprise and delight audiences with its carefully curated lineup of exciting, unusual and eclectic films. One advantage of the digital edition is that it will be accessible to audiences from across South Asia so instead of “bringing independent cinema to the mountains” this year, we will be “streaming independent cinema from the mountains”!
About Dharamshala
Once a sleepy town in the foothills of the north Indian Himalaya, McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala, is now a global destination, the exile home of the Dalai Lama, the capital of the Tibetan diaspora, and more recently, an international cricket venue.
All year round thousands of visitors from all over India and the world stream through its narrow streets, drawn by the beauty of its mountain setting and its unusual mix of Indian, Tibetan and international cultures.
Crowded with multi-cuisine restaurants, cafes, bookshops, and video parlours, McLeod Ganj exudes a cosmopolitanism that belies its size, making it the perfect location for the Dharamshala International Film Festival.
Board of Advisors
Team
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PRESENTED BY
IN COLLABORATION WITH
WITH SUPPORT FROM
WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM
PARTNERS
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
A partnership with the Dharamshala International Film Festival enables organizations to communicate with a captive audience and contribute to the overall development of a vibrant film culture in a region, which is now a global destination. For further information on how your organization can benefit through a partnership with DIFF, please contact: info@diff.co.in with “Sponsorship” as the subject.
For sponsorship and collaborations with DIFF, contact us at info@diff.co.in
