Since its inception in 2012, the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF), directed by Ritu Sarin & Tenzing Sonam of White Crane Film, has remained faithful to its founding mission to promote contemporary art, cinema, and independent media practice in the Himalayan regions of India and to create an engaged cultural platform that encourages intercultural exchange by bringing local and international high-profile films and filmmakers to Dharamshala. Dharamshala is a small town in the foothills of the North Indian Himalaya, home of the Tibetan exile community and their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, remote of the conventional infrastructure of international film festivals.

This year’s line-up includes two award-winning documentaries—Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson (USA, 2016), Rahul Jain’s Machines (India, 2016) which screened at 10 international film festivals, and won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Excellence in Cinematography at 2017’s Sundance Film Festival.
 
There will be a special screening of the critically acclaimed A Death in the Gunj, presented in person by director Konkona Sen Sharma.
 
DIFF 2017 will also feature the Indian premiere of Out of This World (USA), a newly restored version of journalist and writer Lowell Thomas’ fascinating account of his travels to Tibet in 1949 (originally released in 1954).
 
This year’s feature films include Dain Said’s Interchange (Malaysia, 2016), Yaniv Berman’s Land of the Little People (Israel, 2016), Dechen Roder’s Honeygiver Among the Dogs (Bhutan, 2016), Yoshinori Sato’s Her Mother (Japan), Mano Khalil’s The Swallow (Switzerland), Karma Takapa’s Ralang Road, which premiered at this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival (an Indian film to be selected at the fest after 13 years), and Deepak Rauniyar’s Oscar entry from Nepal, White Sun which premiered at 73rd Venice Film Festival and won Interfilm Award and new voices/new visions grand jury prize at the Palm Springs festival.

DIFF continues its tradition of showcasing experimental films by presenting the South Asia premieres of three features by well-known artists and filmmakers: Amar Kanwar’s Such a Morning (India), and Naeem Mohaiemen’s Tripoli Cancelled (Bangladesh), both of which premiered this year at Documenta 14; and Singapore filmmaker Tan Pin Pin’s In Time to Come, which had its world premiere at Visions du Reel and was in competition at Hot Docs and Sheffield Doc Fest.

Festival director Ritu Sarin comments, “Over the past six years, DIFF has carved out a special niche in the landscape of Indian film festivals. It is loved by filmmakers and film buffs alike and we want to ensure that DIFF 2017 continues to build on the qualities for which the festival has come to be known—its intimacy, warmth, unpretentiousness and single-minded focus on highlighting good indie cinema, all within beautiful mountain surroundings.”