As Dharamshala International Film Festival returns, a reminder of why small is beautiful

The 13th edition of the Dharamshala International Film Festival in McLeod Ganj is a reminder of how precious and precarious such events are. In a country in which a film festival is often the only way to access the latest international cinema, DIFF has stayed on course by opting for selective rather than expansive curation and keeping its ambitions in check.

Founded by the filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam in 2012, DIFF has built up a loyal following beyond McLeod Ganj for eclectic fare that includes Indian arthouse cinema.

“The festival has retained independence because it’s not a slave to funds,” pointed out DIFF’s Artistic Director Bina Paul. “You’re never happy with what you have – it means that you sometimes let go of films or have to restrict the travel of filmmakers. But the bigger a festival becomes, the more bound it is to various agencies. I’m quite impressed by the way they [Sarin and Sonam] have kept the event going by building relationships.”

This year, DIFF will roll out 80 titles across long and short formats between November 7 and 10. Payal Kapadia’s Cannes-decorated All We Imagine As Light will inaugurate DIFF ahead of is theatrical release on November 22. The line-up includes Sandhya Suri’s police procedural Santosh, Shuchi Talathi’s Girls Will be Girls, Rima Das’s Village Rockstars 2, Onir’s We Are Faheem & Karun and Dibakar Banerjee’s Tees.

Among the documentaries are Kinshuk Surjan’s Marching in the Dark, Achal Mishra’s Chaar Phool Hain Aur Duniya Hai, the Bhutan-set Agent of Happiness and Nocturnes by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan and A Fly On The Wall by Shonali Bose and Nilesh Maniyar.

In the international list are Pedro Almodovar’s The Room Next Door, Truong Minh Quy’s Viet and Nam, Aizhan Kassymbek’s Madina, The Maw Naing’s MA – Cry of Silence and In the Land of Brothers by Alireza Ghasemi and Raha Amirfazl. Short and animated films round off the programme.

“DIFF is a bit of a best of – we come towards the end of the festival year in India and the world, so we have a sense of what’s happening all over,” Bina Paul said about the selection. “There is also a strong mountain presence that we look for, and small films. It’s nice for the audience here to get a sense of what’s happening in the world, to discover small films.”

Film festivals often base their reputation on quantity – how many premieres or titles, how many stars on the red carpet, how many sidebar events. They are expensive affairs that require sizeable organisational support and hefty sums of money. When the tap is turned off, when a sponsor walks out, the effect is immediately reflected in a crimped line-up – as happened with the recently concluded MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.

“While Dharamshala has become extremely popular, the organisers have been very conscious of the fact that there are only a certain number of films that they can accommodate,” observed Paul, who took charge of DIFF in 2023 after several years of heading programming at the sprawling, massively attended International Film Festival of Kerala.

“Festivals get greedy in terms of wanting more star power, more publicity, more delegates, more premieres – these are part of a sort of competitive edge,” Paul added. “Dharamshala has not fallen for that. It’s a modest, boutique kind of festival that stays within its resources – by cutting its coat according to its cloth.”

In India, film festivals have a pedagogical aspect. In the absence of arthouse cinemas that can regularly screen international cinema without worrying about government censorship, the film festival is often the only place to encounter the movies that are creating waves globally. It is where cinephiles can make connections between a filmmaker’s latest effort and previous ones, appreciate the classics through retrospectives, and learn about the modes of filmmaking in practice around the world.

More than funding, film festivals need thoughtful curation, Paul said.

“The biggest challenge is replication – every festival begins to look the same,” she added. “You need trained, well-informed curators. Travelling to other festivals is also very much part of programming. Artistic vision comes only through interactions. The programmers are not only looking at links sent by sales agents. It’s not about the money but the people who run a festival and want it to happen.”