By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, November 3: The Fifth Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) kicked off with the highly acclaimed film Thithi on the opening night to a packed Hermann Gmeiner Auditorium at Upper TCV School yesterday.
Due to health issues and unforeseen work commitments, Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh was unable to attend as scheduled. However, Sudhir Sharma Minister of Housing & Urban Development attended as the chief guest along with dignitaries of Tibetan government in exile and local Indian officials.
The Director duo of the festival, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, while introducing the festival said that it was their dream to start a film festival and it was a ‘labor of love’ for them. They also thanked everyone involved with the festival.
“I am really excited about the festival seeing many people from outside Dharamshala come here especially for the festival, which encourages us to make the festival better and improve further,” Tenzing Sonam said at the sideline of the inaugural night.
Set in a remote village in Karnataka and performed by non-professional actors, ‘Thithi’ means funeral celebration performed after 11 days of the death. The movie revolves around how three generations of sons deal with the death of the oldest in their family named Century Gowda. Thammanna, grandson of Century, tires to sell the family land illegally by making fake death certificate of his father who does not want anything to do with the land.
Apart from awards at various international film festivals, DIFF’s opening night feature also received the best feature film in Kannada at 63rd National Film Awards 2016.
As a part of DIFF’s outreach program, a film appreciation competition was organized among four schools. The students were given a workshop with film writer Aseem Chhabra and were shown Varun Tandon’s Syaahi to write a review.
Tenzin Palkyi of Upper TCV School, who got the first prize in the senior division, said, “I was intimidated at first seeing English students from other schools, but now I feel great having upheld the name of my school.”
The four-day festival (Nov. 3-6) would screen 46 films including 27 feature narratives and documentaries films, 15 shorts and four children’s film. With over 20 filmmakers and 18 films premiering in India including Mickey Lemle’s documentary ‘The Last Dalai Lama?’.
