Busan Winner ‘Birds in the Dark’ to Close Dharamshala International Film Festival, Varun Grover’s ‘Damned’ Among New Titles

Shashank Walia’s “Birds in the Dark,” about a call center executive whom a police informer mistakes for a suspect, will close the 15th Dharamshala International Film Festival with its India premiere. The festival runs Oct. 29–Nov. 1 at Tibetan Children’s Village in Upper Dharamshala.

Walia’s debut feature took two prizes at the Busan International Film Festival earlier this month.

The latest additions to the lineup include “A Fox Under a Pink Moon” by Mehrdad Oskouei. He made the film with Afghan artist Soraya Akhlaghi, and it tracks her attempts to get to her mother in Austria. Paromita Vohra’s “Working Girls” looks at work done by women across India that often goes unseen.

Yashasvi Juyal’s “The Ink Stained Hand and The Missing Thumb,” a South Asia premiere, unfolds at a lonely highway toll booth in northern India, where grief and memory disturb daily routine. Ridham Janve’s “Hunter’s Moon” takes place in the Upper Dhauladhar range.

The shorts section includes the world premiere of Aastha Tiku’s “Dreamboat,” along with Arun Fulara’s “Hudke ki Pyaang Pyaang” and Varun Grover’s “Damned.”

“Curation has always been at the heart of DIFF. While curating, we look for distinctive voices, boundary-pushing filmmaking and films that open up new ways of seeing and thinking. Over the years, this careful and considered approach has allowed DIFF to build a program that is diverse in geography, form and subject, while remaining true to its commitment to independent cinema,” said Bina Paul, the festival’s director of programming.

As previously announced, Rima Das’ “Not a Hero” opens the festival with its South Asia premiere. Titles also include Óliver Laxe’s “Sirāt,” Shaunak Sen’s “Termite,” Gurvinder Singh’s “Rehmat,” Sara Dosa’s “Time and Water,” Dennis Harvey and Lars Lovén’s “Celtic Utopia” and Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi’s “Shadowbox.” “Termite” will have its Asia premiere at the festival and “Rehmat” its India premiere.

Away from the screenings, DIFF’s Himalayan Film Fellows initiative, backed this year by Arthshila, is working with seven filmmakers from the Indian Himalayan Region on their first or second fiction features. Their mentors are Dechen Roder, Umesh Kulkarni and Dominic Sangma. The festival, working with Royal Enfield Social Mission, is also completing 24 community screenings around Kangra this year, at venues that have included schools, nunneries and the district jail.

Filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam launched DIFF in 2012.

“When we started DIFF, we wanted to create a space in Dharamshala where independent films could be experienced in a communal setting, and where filmmakers and audiences could spend time with each other beyond the screening room. Fifteen years later, that spirit remains at the heart of the festival. We are excited to welcome everyone back to the mountains for this year’s landmark edition,” said Sarin and Sonam.

The festival runs Oct. 29–Nov. 1 at Tibetan Children’s Village in Upper Dharamshala.