DIFF to screen best of world cinema on inflatable screens

Mumbai: A plethora of films from across the world will be screened at the upcoming 11th edition of the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF), which is set to be held from November 3 to November 6 at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala.

The festival will host a lineup of features, documentaries and short films, including the Indian premieres of Saim Saqid’s Cannes Jury Prize winner ‘Joyland’, ‘Once Upon A Time In Calcutta’, Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s searing documentary ‘Writing with Fire’, Parth Saurabh’s debut feature ‘Pokhar Ke Dunu Paar’ presented by Anurag Kashyap, Ajitpal Singh’s ‘Fire in the Mountains’, Jason Loftus’ ‘Eternal Spring’ and Gianfranco Rosi’s ‘In Viaggio’.

The titles will be screened at inflatable theatres.

For the screening, the festival has joined forces with the inflatable theatre company – Picturetime, to host its latest physical edition in the foothills of the Himalayas. This year, two of Picturetime’s inflatable digital cinemas will serve as screening venues at DIFF.

Festival director Ritu Sarin said: “Before we teamed up with Picturetime in 2018, we had no way of showing digital cinema packages, the preferred digital screening format internationally. Our partnership with Picturetime helped us to overcome that technical hurdle. Picturetime’s state-of-the-art digital facilities and its knowledgeable technical team have really helped DIFF move to the next level. This year, we’re more excited than ever because we’re adding a second Picturetime mobile digital cinema, and expanding even further our capacity to screen films at the highest quality.”

Other highlights include Shaunak Sen’s Cannes Golden Eye winner ‘All That Breathes’, Chinese filmmaker Qiu Jiongjiong’s ‘Jiao Ma Tang Hui’ (A New Old Play), Gurvinder Singh’s ‘Adh Chanani Raat’ and more.

The festival will also host talks, masterclasses and interactive sessions at the Picturetime venues.

Talking about his association with DIFF, Sushil Chaudhary, Founder & CEO, Picturetime Digiplex, said in a statement: “A good film festival requires good technology to do justice to the cinematic experience. When we first associated with DIFF, the idea was to add value by bringing the best digital facilities. We have fulfilled this mission over five wonderful years so far.”

–IANS