The Dharamshala International Film Festival Brings Independent Cinema to the Mountains

By Theadora Walsh / November 8, 2016;

Photo: DIFF

In the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) school auditorium where she used to sit and sing at morning assembly, Tenzin Dasel watched as the room was illuminated by her second short film, Royal Cafe. A deconstructed inquiry into self-identity, the film searches to reconcile the predominant image of Tibetans in cinema as peace loving vegetarians with the young protagonist’s experience of the exile community in Paris. After the film Dasel stood before the audience and asked Tibetans to share their stories, the room hummed with emotion and admiration.

Naseeruddin Shah
Photo: DIFF

Founded by directors Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam with the aim of providing cinema in an area with few movie theaters, the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) brings narratives from all over the world to the Himalayan town. This year 43 films were shown from 21 different countries.

Large crowds waited outside TCV’s lower school auditorium for two documentaries which focused on local landscapes. Steffi Giaracuni’s film on Didi Contractor, a self-taught architect who builds homes in the traditional Himachali mud style, was shown. Mickey Lemle’s latest film on the Dalai Lama entitled The Last Dalai Lama? gave local people a chance to see their home featured on the big screen.

Because DIFF puts an emphasis on creating communities of film makers, an unusually high number of directors, producers and actors were assembled in Dharamshala for this November’s festival. To the delight of TCV students, hero Naseeruddin Shah attended and led a conversation about his acting practice.

The festival sponsored a film fellows programme which invited young artists from Himalayan regions to meet, collaborate, and be mentored by the film maker Umesh Kulkarni. Several community screenings were organised, including one at a jail, and school children were shown films and invited to participate in a film critic writing contest.

Between cinema screens and the crisp outlines of the Himalayas, the Dharamshala International Film Festival brought conversations about exile, identity, documentation and movement into focus through film.