Birds in the Dark to Close DIFF’s 15th Edition — SkimNews
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- Birds in the Dark will close the 15th Dharamshala International Film Festival with its India premiere; the Oct. 29–Nov. 1 event runs at Tibetan Children’s Village in Upper Dharamshala.
- Shashank Walia’s debut feature, “Birds in the Dark,” took two prizes at the Busan International Film Festival earlier this month.
- “A Fox Under a Pink Moon” follows Afghan artist Soraya Akhlaghi’s attempts to reach her mother in Austria; Mehrdad Oskouei made the film with her as DIFF added it alongside “Working Girls” and “The Ink Stained Hand and The Missing Thumb.”
- “Dreamboat” receives its world premiere in DIFF’s shorts section, alongside Arun Fulara’s “Hudke ki Pyaang Pyaang” and Varun Grover’s “Damned.”
- Rima Das’s “Not a Hero” opens the festival with a South Asia premiere; “Termite” will have its Asia premiere and “Rehmat” its India premiere, with “Sirāt,” “Time and Water,” “Celtic Utopia” and “Shadowbox” also on the lineup.
- DIFF Himalayan Film Fellows, backed by Arthshila this year, is working with seven filmmakers from the Indian Himalayan Region on their first or second fiction features, with Dechen Roder, Umesh Kulkarni and Dominic Sangma as mentors.
- Royal Enfield Social Mission is working with DIFF on 24 community screenings around Kangra this year, including venues at schools, nunneries and the district jail.
Why it matters: For filmgoers around Kangra and seven filmmakers in the Indian Himalayan Region, DIFF’s 15th edition is not just a premiere showcase: 24 community screenings and the Arthshila-backed fellows program bring independent films and mentorship into local institutions. The Oct. 29–Nov. 1 schedule thus pairs festival access with regional filmmaking support.
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