The Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF), which kicked off on November 3 will reach a glorious finale today (November 6) in the hills of McLeodganj, Dharamshala. It has been showcasing the best of Indian independent and world cinema in the Himalayan hill town, at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA).
Anurag Kashyap |
The exciting lineup of films at the festival included 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, Saim Saqid’s Cannes Jury Prize winner Joyland, Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s Once Upon A Time In Calcutta, and the Kirti Kulhari-starrer The List among a host of other titles.
Lyricist-screenwriter Varun Grover hosted a screenwriting workshop called The Art Of Screenwriting on Friday (November 4). And on Saturday, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap steered a fun masterclass titled Adventures in the Film Trade.
A still from The List |
When asked about improving the theatrical reach of small-budget films, Anurag shares during the masterclass, “The solution is right here in a model like PictureTime. I spoke to the founders and how much it cost them to create a mobile cinema. I’m again going to meet them in Mumbai to have a larger conversation. They have created a solution and now it’s the job of the filmmaking community to find ways to maximise it. How do you take it everywhere? How do you bring it to villages? Through this model, we can actually install it in any remote place, gather people and create a cinema.”
DIFF collabs with PictureTime
In its 11th edition now, DIFF has teamed up with PictureTime, a one-of-a-kind mobile theatre company, to amplify the cinematic experience.
This year, PictureTime also anchored tech-forward innovations at TIPA’s newly built auditorium where they have installed a 2K projection system with 5.1 Dolby surround sound. The theatre also boasts of a cool new video conferencing system.
Sushil Chaudhary |
Sushil Chaudhary, Founder, PictureTime Digiplex, says, “Each year, our collaboration with DIFF leaves me freshly energised to add value to the cinematic experience. This year was the same and so much more. Our innovations at PictureTime will continue to revolutionise the cinema landscape as we wrap up another memorable edition of DIFF.”
