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. Ten years later, DIFF has become one of India’s leading independent film festivals, and attracts audiences from across the country and further afield. The core mission of DIFF, however, has remained the same: to build a community united by a love of cinema. Thanks to many friends, collaborators and team members who have been by the festival’s side for years, DIFF endures as an inimitable presence in the film festival landscape of India.

Home to both Sarin and Sonam, McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala, has transformed from a sleepy town in the foothills of the Himalayas into a global destination: exile home to the Dalai Lama, capital of the Tibetan diaspora, and a magnet for tourists, artists and enterprising individuals alike. Dharamshala’s understated cosmopolitanism and thriving environment full of cafes, bookstores, restaurants and arts organizations has provided the ideal home for DIFF since it’s first iteration. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, DIFF has continued collaborating remotely and found creative ways to engage with our audience. Thanks to a generous community of DIFF alumni filmmakers, DIFF’s Virtual Viewing Room has brought quality cinema for free to viewers around the world. Now in our second year of taking the festival online, we eagerly look forward to reaching a wider audience online with another carefully curated lineup of exciting, unusual and eclectic films, along with interactive sessions that spark dialogue across our extended DIFF family.

"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

Adil Hussain

Arun Sarin

Asif Kapadia

Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza

Guneet Monga

Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam, Festival Directors

Deepthi Pendurty, Festival Manager

Eleonora Bosco, Festival Coordinator

Radha Mahendru,Special Programmes Producer

Rahul Sharda, Special Programmes Assistant

Unnati Mehta, Festival Assistant

Rounak Maiti, Digital & Social Media Coordinator

Sarina Grewal, Design

Matthew Singh Toor, Content Editor and Community Outreach Manager

Abhishek Thakur, Community Outreach

Abhinava Bhattacharyya, Programming Team

Anu Rangachar, Programming Consultant

Umesh Kulkarni, Programming Consultant

Monica Wahi, Programming Consultant

Beam & Words, Social Media

Manoj Arora

Aseem Chhabra

Shardul Bhardwaj

Apoorv Thacker

Oona Zyman

Elise Gerardin

Isabel Matthäus

Iyesha Geeth Abbas

Bejon Vinod

Stenzin Tankong

Eline Groeneweg Bhatt

Hemant Srikumar

Jim Forster

The Buddhist Film Foundation

Karishma Gupte

Prince Guleria


The 10th edition of the Dharamshala International Film Festival is grateful for the support we receive from our various collaborators, sponsors, partners and supporters.

WITH SUPPORT FROM

WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM

PARTNERS

COMMUNITY PARTNERS