Nurturing a film festival is like raising a baby. Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam’s child is in its seventh year, and one can say that the Dharamshala International Film Festival has emerged as one of the best-curated festivals in the country. Held in the sylvan surroundings of McLeod Ganj, the festival conjures up an invigorating cinematic experience with an eclectic package of feature films and documentaries from across the world.
This year’s festival will open with Dar Gei’s Namdev Bhau: In Search of Silence where an old Mumbai man travels to the Himalayas for quietude . Then there is Devashish Makhija’s Manoj Bajpayee- starrer Bhonsle , Lijo Jose Pellissery’s critically acclaimed Malayalam feature Ee.Ma.Yau , Ridham Janve’s Gaddi-language feature film The Gold-Laden Sheep and the Sacred Mountain and Anamika Haksar’s much anticipated Ghode ko Jalebi Khilane Le Ja Riya Hoon. The international programming include Indian premières of Hiroshi Sunairi’s 48 Years: Silent Dictator (Japan), Luc Schaedler’s A Long Way Home (Switzerland) and Tashi Gyeltshen’s The Red Phallus (Bhutan).
“As with each edition of DIFF, we try to put together a package of films that balance between narrative features, documentaries, shorts, and children’s films, and this year, too, I’m very excited and happy with the line-up. We have a particularly strong documentary line-up with several films that are having their India premières. It’s difficult for us to choose films to recommend because each film has its own unique sensibility. I would advise viewers to try and catch a range of films to get a full favour of the kinds of films we are showcasing at DIFF,” says Ritu, who runs the festival with Tenzing. Interestingly, their latest film The Sweet Requiem will also be showcased during the four-day festival. Excerpts from an e-mail interview:
How far the film festival has succeeded in spreading the film culture in the region? There is a Gaddi language film this year...
Our Community Outreach programme is an integral part of DIFF and each year, we have been trying to expand its reach. This year, we have organised several screenings at villages, colleges and schools – both mainstream and special needs – and other community venues, including the Dharamshala District Jail. Each screening is preceded by an introduction and followed by a discussion. Since 2015, DIFF has also organised a Film Appreciation Competition for students from local schools, during which they are introduced to the concept of active and critical engagement with cinema. DIFF also works with Jagori Rural Charitable Trust to organise community screenings in the Kangra Valley area. So slowly, we hope to build a film culture in our area.
Our Spotlight on Himachal this year has two films: Ridham Janve’s Gaddi-language The Gold-Laden Sheep and the Sacred Mountain , which was shot in the mountains above Dharamshala with a non-professional Gaddi cast, and Shimla-based filmmaker Siddharth Chauhan’s short film, Pashi, shot in Himachal Pradesh .
A still from “The Gold-Laden Sheep and the Sacred Mountain” 
What are the challenges of holding a film festival in Dharamshala? Do top filmmakers crib about the limited facilities? Have things changed over the years like this year you have tied-up with PictureTime?
Our festival takes place in McLeod Ganj, a small town with no cinema facilities. Our venue is the Tibetan Children’s Village, a boarding school. So everything has to be set up from scratch: the projection facilities have to be brought from Delhi and the screening venues have to be turned into movie halls. So logistically, it is a huge challenge. But our main hurdle every year is finding funding for the festival and to have a team in place that continues from year to year.
Surprisingly, no filmmaker has ever complained about the limited facilities. Because Tenzing and I are filmmakers ourselves, we try and take care of the filmmakers personally and everyone we’ve invited understands the limitations we are operating under. In fact, I would even say that it is precisely this homegrown and intimate quality that makes DIFF so special.
This year, we have tied-up with PictureTime, a Delhi-based company that is going to revolutionise the way movies will be watched in smaller towns and remote locations where there are no multiplexes and cinema halls. So, for the first time, we will have DCP projection facilities at one of PictureTime’s mobile digital cinema at the festival. This is a huge jump for us and we’re very excited to see how it goes.
The MeToo movement has hit DFF as well with the Festival dropping Ere Gowda’s debut Kannada feature, Balekempa, following the allegation of sexual assault against Gowda . It must have hurt you more in comparison to MAMI because you have a limited palette...
Firstly, let me say that we at DIFF fully support the #MeToo movement and strongly believe that there is no place in our society where women have to live in fear of sexual violence and harassment and where women are afraid even to speak out if they have been subject to such violations.
Sadly, there is no escaping the #MeToo movement and it has impacted even the independent filmmaking scene. While we have no doubt that this is an important and necessary movement, it has raised many difficult questions about how we, as film festival organisers, treat films that have been impacted. If a director is implicated, should his film suffer as a result and therefore affect everyone who worked on the film? Or what if the producer is the guilty party, should the directors have to pay the price? We are still on a sharp learning curve to figure out how best we can deal with such situations. In fact, we will have a panel discussion at DIFF this year – #MeToo and Independent Filmmaking – specifically to discuss these issues.
How has the film festival helped in terms of augmenting the tourism potential of the place?
McLeod Ganj is already bursting with a surplus of tourists! But we hope DIFF has managed to attract a different kind of tourist as well – a more culturally aware and sensitive traveller. One of our aims was to make Dharamshala a contemporary cultural destination besides being a tourist spot and hopefully, we are slowly achieving that.
Tell us about your latest film, The Sweet Requiem ; how was the response at TIFF ?
The Sweet Requiem is our second narrative feature and is set among the exile Tibetan community in India. We were really happy to have had the opportunity to launch the film at the Toronto International Film Festival. For a small, Tibetan-language feature film like ours, it’s really tough to get attention and a festival like TIFF certainly helps to make it more visible. The audience response was amazing! We had three screenings and they were all completely packed.
How do you see the future of small festivals; have you arrived at a sustainable model?
My feeling is that small festivals, whether they are film, literary, music, or whatever, are here to stay and have a future in our country. That’s because almost everything cultural is focused in the big metros whereas there is a burgeoning population of young people who live in smaller towns but are increasingly aware of and interested in these subjects. As far as DIFF is concerned, we are far from having arrived at a sustainable model. That will only happen when we have reliable funding in place and better infrastructure in Dharamshala.
