DIFF Film Fellows 2015
The Dharamshala International Film Festival 2015 is proud to host the second edition of the DIFF Film Fellows programme.
This initiative hopes to encourage and develop filmmaking talent in the Himalayan regions of India by providing an opportunity to aspiring filmmakers from the area to attend DIFF 2015 and participate in its various events, which include screenings of the best of contemporary independent cinema, and masterclasses and workshops held by visiting filmmakers and industry professionals. Selected participants will also have the opportunity to engage in special one-on-one mentorship sessions with visiting filmmakers.
The Fellows
Karan Dhar
Karan Dhar hails from Udhampur, a sleepy town in Jammu and Kashmir. After living in his hometown for nearly two decades, where the online freedom was often subject to indefinite bans on internet, he decided to move to Delhi. He got a little lucky after he found himself behind the camera during his studies at AJK Mass Communication Research Centre. His debut film, Kaansutra, inspired by the life of an ear-cleaner in Delhi, celebrates the joie de vivre spirit of a man, who lives on the margins of the national capital.
Majid Imtiyaz
Majid Imtiyaz grew up in Srinagar, and went on to graduate from Manipal University, India in B.A.J.C with specialisation in Film studies. He was also awarded as an A-grade Film direction student from I.C.E (Institute of Creative Excellence), Balaji Telefilms. Since then, Majid has been making independent films. Besides this, he also has been part of various Film institutes and Production houses including Balaji Telefilms, Fireworks Productions, Krack Productions, Ctrl-S Entertainment, Shivambika Entertainment, Scaling Heights entertainment pvt. Ltd. and many others.
Srishti Lakhera
Srishti is a filmmaker and a community trainer from Rishikesh. She has been commissioned to make short films and have worked in Documentaries for Television. She has worked with communities in India and the USA to train women, youth, people with developmental disabilities in films. Srishti takes her inspiration from ecology, which informs her politics and work. She was artistinresidence at the Khoj International Artist Association in 2014. She is presently working on a Feature Length Documentary Film Ek Tha Gaon (Once Upon a Village) on the ghost villages of Uttrakhandh.
Tribeny Rai
Tribeny Rai is an aspiring filmmaker from Sikkim. She recently completed her diploma in direction and screenplay writing from Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. She has made many short films in genres such as fiction, experimental, and playback, as a part of her academic projects which have been screened in various national and international film festivals.
Udit Nijhawan
Udit grew up in the hills in a small town of Nainital (Uttrakhand), nestled around a lake amongst pine and deodar trees. He studied Communication Design and specialised in film. His idols include people like Stefan Sagmeister, Banski and Steve Mccurry. After studying the Japanese art form, Butoh, in Dharamshala, he became deeply influenced by the works of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. His previous film was a documentary on a 19 year old cancer patient in palliative care Aman (2013). He is currently working on a film exploring resonance patterns in primitive Indian tribes.
The Jury
Anupama Srinivasan
Anupama Srinivasan is a freelance filmmaker based in Delhi, and an alumna of FTII, Pune, and Harvard University, Cambridge. Since 2001, she has been making documentaries and short films, often shooting and editing her own work. Anupama has mentored several documentaries and short films as part of filmmaking workshops. She is currently the Festival Director of the IAWRT Asian Women’s Film Festival and the Associate Course Director of the Creative Documentary Course at the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts & Communication.
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni studied film-making in the film and television institute of India where he specialised in direction. His diploma film Girni (The Grinding Machine) won the presidents gold medal for best short film and best direction in the year 2005. His short documentary Three of Us premiered in Berlinale 2008. His first feature film Valu (The Wild Bull) along with the other two films, Vihir (The Well) and Deool (A Temple) were premiered in Rotterdam 2008, 2010 and 2012 respectively. These films were extremely successful with critics as well as audiences.
Tenzing Sonam
Tenzing Sonam was born in Darjeeling, India to Tibetan refugee parents. He did his undergraduate studies from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and his Masters from the UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Tenzing and his long-term partner, Ritu Sarin, work through their independent film company, White Crane Films and have been making films together for more than 25 years. Their work includes award-winning documentaries, one dramatic feature film and a number of video installations. They are also are co-directors of the Dharamshala International Film Festival. Tenzing is also a writer and political commentator on Tibetan affairs.
For more information email us at fellows@diff.co.in.