Dharamsala International Film Festival comes to a close with Tamil film Visaranai

The fifth edition of the Dharamsala International Film Festival (DIFF) came to a close on 6 November. The four-day film festival was held in the mountain town of McLeod Ganj. [caption id=“attachment_3094672” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Visaranai, India’s official entry into Oscars, was the last film to be screened at the DIFF 2016.[/caption] Conceptualized by filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam of White Crane Films, the festival aims at bridging the cultural gaps that small towns like Dharamsala face in terms of art and cinema. This year, the festival saw an overwhelming response, much to the solace of the organizers, reports India Live Today.

“We’ve had amazing audiences who are really interested in independent cinema. It’s really heart-warming to see that," said Sarin.

Business Standard reports that the film festival screened 43 films including 18 narratives, nine documentaries, 15 short films and a medium documentary fiction over four days. Twenty filmmakers, including nine international filmmakers showcased their work at the film festival. Cinema from South India had quite a stronghold in the film festival held in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. The festival opened with the screening of the National Award-winning film Thithi, directed by Kannada filmmaker Raam Reddy. The festival closed with the screening of another South Indian film, Visaranai, India’s official entry for the Academy Awards 2017 in the Foreign Language Film category. A Tamil drama, directed by National Award-winning filmmaker Vetrimaaran, the film is based on the novel Lock Up by auto-rickshaw driver-turned writer M Chandrakumar. The three days between these two screenings consisted of master classes, children’s films, panel discussions and community outreach events.