The 8^th edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) will be held from 7 to 10 November 2019 in the beautiful mountain town of McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala.

Besides the curated selection, this year, for the first time, DIFF opened up to submissions via FilmFreeway and there were numerous excellent entries.

Eeb Allay Ooo! by Prateek Vats was the inaugural film of the 8th edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) 2019. Gitanjali Rao’s feature animation, Bombay Rose, will be the closing film at the festival. Directors Prateek Vats and Gitanjali Rao will be present.

Adil Hussain will be attending the festival and conducting an acting workshop.

Indian feature film directors Ekta Mittal, Gurvinder Singh, Kislay,  Lijo Jose Pellissery, Priya Sen, R.V. Ramani, and Vinod Kamble will be present.

International filmmakers attending the festival include Jesse Alk (USA), Kazuhiro Soda (Japan), Samuel Weniger (Switzerland).

The DIFF 2019 line-up includes Indian fiction and documentary features: About Love (dir. Archana Phadke), AiseHee (dir. Kislay), Birha (dir. Ekta Mittal), Bombay Rose (dir. Gitanjali Rao), Eeb Allay Ooo! (dir. Prateek Vats), Jallikattu (dir. Lijo Jose Pellissery), Khanaur (Bitter Chestnut), (dir. Gurvinder Singh), Oh, That’s Bhanu (dir. R.V. Ramani)and Yeh Freedom Life (dir. Priya Sen).

The international fiction and documentary features include: Another Day Of Life (dir. Raúl de la Fuente, Damian Nenow, Poland/Spain), For Sama (dir. Edward Watts, Waad Al-Khateab, UK), God Exists, Her Name is Petrunya(dir. TeonaStrugarMitevska, Macedonia/ France/ Belgium), Golden Age (dir. Beat Oswald, Samuel Weniger, Switzerland), Heimat is a Space in Time (dir. Thomas Heise, Germany), Inland Sea (dir. Kazuhiro Soda, Japan), Last Night I Saw You Smiling (dir. KavichNeang, Cambodia), Mafak(dir. Bassam Jarbawi, Palestine/ USA/ Qatar), Pariah Dog (dir. Jesse Alk, USA), Song Without a Name (dir. Melina León, Peru/Spain/USA), Tehran: City of Love (dir. Ali Jaberansari, Iran/UK/Netherlands), The Best Thing You Can Do With Your Life(dir. Zita Erffa, Germany), The Dalai Lama – Scientist(dir. Dawn Gifford Engle, USA), Varda by Agnés(dir. AgnésVarda, France) and Vitalina Varela (dir. Pedro Costa, Portugal).

Short Films at the festival include: A Million Years (dir. Danech San, Cambodia),Bebaak(dir. Shazia Iqbal), Brother, Move On (dir. Antshi von Moos, Switzerland),The Booth(dir. Rohin Raveendran),The Little Goddess(dir. Gauri Adelkar),The Horns Of Kolkata(dir. Andrew Scott, New Zealand)Jamnapaar(dir. Abhinava Bhattacharyya),Kamali (dir. Sasha Rainbow, United Kingdom),Kandurwan – Baking History(dir. Mehvish Rather),Knock KnockKnock (dir. Sudhanshu Saria),Light a Candle(dir. Tenzin Kalden),Look at The Sky(dir. Ashok Veilou),Nemesis(dir. Behzad Jafarimazhab Haghighi, Iran),Nooreh(dir. Ashish Pandey),Pema (dir. Sonam Tseten),Sekool(dir. Stenzin Tankong), Student Bodies (dir. Ho Rui An, Singapore),Teesri Khwaish(dir. Purandhya Sharma),The Traffic Separating Device(dir. Johan Palmgren, Sweden), The Timekeeper (dir. Sohil Vaidya)and U for Usha(dir. Rohan Parashuram Kanawade).

DIFF has also partnered with Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films to present a package of short films – Chintu (dir. Anubhav Anand), Everything is Fine (dir. Mansi Jain),Gadhedo (dir. Jai Sharma),Laddoo (dir. Sameer Sadhwani, Kishore Sadhwani),MaaTuki(dir. SuchanaSaha) and Rogan Josh (dir. Sanjeev Vig).

The popular DIFF Children’s Film Programme will continue with a line-up that includes feature film Kastoori(dir. Vinod Kamble, India) and three shorts, The Award (dir. Lidija Mojsovska, Macedonia), School Trip (dir. Salvatore Allocca, Italy) and Chicken at Swami’s Kitchen(dir. Sachin Balachandiran, India).

Gurvinder Singh’s latest feature fiction Khanaur (Bitter Chestnut) offers this year’s Spotlight on Himachal.

With an exciting line-up of films and events, DIFF 2019 promises to provide another unique, captivating cinematic experience.