For many years, filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, along with like-minded friends, talked about organizing an international film festival in the beautiful mountain town they called home. Here was an unusual place, made up of a range of interesting people and cultures, blessed by the munificent presence of the Dalai Lama and presided over by the magnificent backdrop of the Dhauladhars. All it lacked, it seemed, was a major cultural event to bring together its diverse residents in a common cause and appeal to discerning visitors. These discussions continued over endless cups of tea (and stronger libations as well) but remained unfulfilled. Until last year, when by a happy coincidence of many factors, it all finally came together and the first edition of DIFF was launched. The primary aim was always to celebrate the love of cinema and to offer Dharamshala’s varied denizens exposure to good quality independent films. But equally important was the goal of making the festival a non-partisan, cultural event where all of the area’s residents – Indians, Tibetan refugees, and expatriates alike – could participate in and be stakeholders. This year’s team of staff, interns and volunteers led by DIFF’s super-efficient Festival Producer, Victoria Conner, has been working for weeks, painstakingly knitting together the multiple strands that make up a successful festival. DIFF was made possible by the generous support and collaboration of many organisations and individuals, not least: Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary; Prince Claus Fund; HP Tourism Department; Isdell Foundation; and Sanjiv Sharma. DIFF is presented by White Crane Arts & Media Trust, a non-profit organisation founded by Ritu and Tenzing to promote contemporary art, cinema and independent media practices in the Himalayan region.

About the Festival

4

All of us who love cinema know that watching films can be akin to a spiritual experience. Sitting in a darkened hall, one enters a kind of trance, transported – physically, emotionally and psychologically – into another reality, plunged into some hidden corner of the human experience and then delivered, shaken, touched, one’s faith in humanity restored, reaffirmed or questioned. Selecting the films for this year’s festival was a huge struggle, only because of the overwhelming number of remarkable films on offer. Time and again, as we were sucked into yet another film, we marvelled at the sheer diversity, the energy, and the clearly defined individual vision that so many of these films encapsulated. And it was this – the auteur’s stamp – more than anything else, that finally guided us in our choice of films. With this in mind, we have done our best to programme an exciting and varied mix of new Indian indie films and shorts, recent international features and the best documentaries from around the world. A special feature of this year’s DIFF is our collaboration with Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21), in bringing to India for the first time, a selection of acclaimed art films made by leading contemporary international artists. As film lovers then, it is our great pleasure to welcome you to the 2nd Dharamshala International Film Festival where, for a few days, you are invited to forget everything and partake in this mystical manna called cinema! And don’t forget to spread the word about our little film festival in the mountains when you go back to your homes. Until next year, Namaste and Tashi Delek!

Festival Directors’ Welcome

5

When the government of Indonesia was overthrown by the military in 1965, Anwar and his friends were promoted from smalltime gangsters who sold movie theatre tickets on the black market to death squad leaders. They helped the army kill more than one million alleged Communists, ethnic Chinese, and intellectuals in less than a year. As the executioner for the most notorious death squad in his city, Anwar himself killed hundreds of people with his own hands. Today, he is revered as a founding father of a right-wing paramilitary organization that grew out of the death squads. In a country where killers are celebrated as heroes, the filmmakers challenge unrepentant death squad leaders to dramatize their role in genocide. The hallucinatory result is a cinematic fever dream, an unsettling journey deep into the imaginations of mass-murderers and the shockingly banal regime of corruption and impunity they inhabit.

The Act of KillingDenmark/Norway/UK, 2012, Documentary, Indonesian/English, 159 minutes

DIRECTOR: Born in Texas, USA in 1974, Joshua Oppenheimer has worked for over a decade with militias, death squads and their victims to explore the relationship between political violence and the public imagination. Educated at Harvard and Central St Martins, London, his award-winning films includeThe Globalization Tapes (2003, co-directed with Christine Cynn), The Entire

History of the Louisiana Purchase (1998, Gold Hugo, Chicago Film Festival), These Places We’ve Learned to Call Home (1996, Gold Spire, San Francisco Film Festival) and numerous shorts. Oppenheimer is Senior Researcher on the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Genocide and Genre project and has published widely on these themes. His latest film, The Act of Killing, is one of the most talked about films of the last year and is a strong Oscar contender. Werner Herzog said of the film: “I have not seen a film as powerful, surreal, and frightening in at least a decade… unprecedented in the history of cinema.”

11

SAT

26 02:30PM

TIPASUN

27 11:00AM

Club House&

6

Ai Weiwei is China's most celebrated contemporary artist and its most outspoken domestic critic. In April 2011, when Ai disappeared into police custody, he quickly became China’s most famous missing person, having first risen to international prominence in 2008 after helping design Beijing’s iconic Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium, only to publicly denounce the Games as party propaganda. Since then, Ai Weiwei’s critiques of China’s repressive regime have ranged from playful photographs of his raised middle finger in front of Tiananmen Square to searing memorials of the schoolchildren who died in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Alison Klayman gained unprecedented access to the charismatic artist while working as a journalist in Beijing. This compelling documentary is the inside story of a passionate dissident for the digital age who inspires global audiences and blurs the boundaries of art and politics.

Ai Weiwei: Never SorryUSA/China, 2012, Documentary, English/Mandarin Chinese, 91 minutes

DIRECTOR: Alison Klayman is a freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker. While living in China from 2006 to 2010, she produced radio and television feature stories for PBS Frontline, National Public Radio, AP Television and others. She also began shooting her debut documentary feature, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry. The film was awarded a Special Jury Prize for Spirit of

Defiance at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. When Chinese authorities detained Ai for three months in Spring 2011, Klayman made many media appearances to speak about Ai and her work, including CNN International and The Colbert Report. She has since been named a Sundance Documentary Producing Fellow, and included in Filmmaker Magazine’s annual list of 25 New Faces of Independent Film.

SUN

27 07:30PM

Club House

7

Toramaru is the designated successor to Master Gensai, leading proponent of the Cosmic Way – an all-round martial arts discipline. Toramaru has spent a year roaming throughout Japan pitting himself against various warriors in an attempt to learn the secrets of other martial arts. The basic principle of the Cosmic Way is: “Know the enemy by eating his food.” Toramaru tells his master of his meetings with masters of stickfighting, nunchaku, Japanese sword, dagger and pistol, not forgetting to advise his master what he ate in preparation for the bouts. Toramaru’s eagerness to master his martial art and his respect for Bushido, the way of the warrior, shine through as he relates the valuable experiences he gained in his quest. Meanwhile, hungry Master Gensai seems more interested in what Toramaru ate than who and how he fought…

DIRECTOR: Takanori Tsujimoto was born in 1971. His first commercial movie was part of the omnibus movie, Killers (2003). Since then, his films include: Red Tears (2011) (a.k.a. Monster Killer and Sword of Blood); Hard Revenge, Milly (2008) and its sequel, Hard Revenge, Milly: Bloody Battle (2009). His films have screened at festivals worldwide and have steadily cultivated a cult following.

Bushido ManJapan, 2013, Drama, Japanese, 88 minutes

FRI

25 08:00PM

CLUB HOUSE

8

Crossing Bridges is the story of Tashi, a young Mumbai-based web designer who, after losing his job, returns to his native village in Arunachal Pradesh in the remote northeast of India. Alienated and disconnected from his own culture, he desperately waits for any news of a new job in the city to go back to. But the longer he stays, the more he begins to experience the life and culture of his native place and people. Tashi begins an emotional journey to rediscover his roots and in the process discovers his identity through the people he meets.

Crossing BridgesIndia, 2013, Drama, Sherdukpen, 103 minutes

DIRECTOR: Sange Dorjee Thongdok belongs to the Sherdukpen Tribe from the remote northeast corner of the country. He is the first person of his state to pass out of a film school, the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, at Kolkata. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Delhi University.Crossing Bridges is his first feature film based on his own people. It is also the

first feature film in Sherdukpen, a dialect of the tribal community living in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh, and the first feature film to be shot by a native of the state. The film was shot in the director’s own village of Shergaon. Prior to this film, he made two short films – Pratyabartan and Evening Café.

SUN

27 10:00AM

TIPA Filmmaker will be present

9

Jabya, a boy born in a Kaikadi (untouchable Dalit) caste, falls in love with his higher-caste classmate, Shalu. Jabya becomes deeply entrenched in an inferiority complex about his looks, his personality, his caste, and his poverty. Above all, he is ashamed of his family’s traditional source of livelihood – trapping pigs for their daily diet, even when the pigs eat human excrement. These social hindrances prevent him from expressing his feelings toward his long-cherished love. Pursuing a black sparrow in order to fulfil his love, Jabya is forced to wage a fierce battle with his family members in trapping an errant pig, which has spoilt the village fair. When his audaciously fought battle of nerves becomes an object of fun and laughter for the other villagers, including Shalu, Jabya is left with no alternative but to face and accept the harsh reality of his life.

FandryIndia, 2013, Drama, Marathi, 103 minutes

DIRECTOR: Nagraj Manjule was born and raised in a small town in Maharashtra and witnessed at close quarters what a struggle it is for someone from a poor family in rural India to obtain an education. His first National Award-winning short film, Pistulya, was a reflection of his ‘felt experience.’ He pursued a Masters in Marathi Literature from Pune University and in Communications

Studies from the Art, Science and Commerce College, Ahmednagar. He is one of the most significant and best-known Marathi poets of the last decade.

Producer Nilesh Navalakha is a builder in Pune, Maharashtra. After studying civil engineer-ing and completing his MBA in marketing, he accomplished his dreams in the real estate industry and now works to fulfill his passion of making and supporting meaningful films.

Filmmaker will be present

SAT

26 10:00AM

TIPA

10

In Mumbai, affable Bollywood buff and wannabe actor Sunny, who works as an assistant director, fantasizes about becoming a heartthrob star. However, at every audition he is summarily thrown out. Undeterred, he goes with an American crew to a remote part of Rajasthan near the Indo-Pakistan border to work on a documentary. One day an Islamic terrorist group kidnaps him, mistaking him for an American crew member, and takes him to the other side of the border. His pathani-clad guards decide to keep him hostage until they locate their original target. The house in which he is confined belongs to a Pakistani whose trade stems from pirated Hindi films, which he brings back every time he crosses the border. Soon, the two factions realize that they share a human and cultural bond. The film shows how cinema can be the universal panacea for co-existence.

-

FilmistaanIndia, 2013, Drama, Hindi, 117 minutes

DIRECTOR: Born in Mumbai to a photographer father in 1975, Nitin Kakkar grew up on a staple diet of Bollywood. After gaining experience as an assistant director for Hindi movies, Nitin Kakkar made his directorial debut with the award-winning short film, Black Freedom (2004). Since then, he has worked on a number of television projects. Filmistaan is his debut feature film. It won the

National Award for the best Hindi feature 2012. Among other awards, it received a Special Jury Mention during its World Premiere at the Busan International Film Festival; Best Debut Director at the International Film Festival of Kerala and the Jaipur International Film Festival; and the audience choice awards at the Indian Film Festivals of Los Angeles and Stuttgart.

SUN

27 06:30PM


11

Bundelkhand, central India, is a place of desolation, dust, and despair. And yet it is hope we discover while following the pink sari-clad women of Gulabi Gang who wrestle justice for women and Dalits. Sampat Pal, their leader, is a rough-and-tough woman with a commanding personality. Despite her lack of education, her greatest strength lies in her words. She has created her own brand of feminist and egalitarian politics, constantly on the move – today investigating a young woman’s suspicious death, tomorrow protesting against a corrupt official. But what’s to be done when the brother of an activist carries out an “honour killing?” Husna, a long time member, is forced to choose between family loyalties and everything the fragile movement stands for. In the meantime, the gang encounters resistance everywhere. Pulling us into the centre of these blazing conflicts, the film uncovers a complex story, disturbing yet heartening.

,


DIRECTOR: Born in New Delhi, Nishtha Jain graduated from Jamia Mass Communication Centre and did her specialization in film direction from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, in 1998. Since then she’s been working as an independent filmmaker and lives in Mumbai. Her films include the critically acclaimed City of Photos (2005), which explores the fantasy worlds

of street-side photo studios, and the award-winning Lakshmi and Me (2008), which explores the symbiotic roles of mistress and maid, filmmaker and subject, speaker and listener, to raise key global issues as diverse as the politics of domesticity, gender and class relations, and the ethics of documentary. Her films have been extensively exhibited in international film festivals, universities, schools and gallery spaces.

Gulabi GangIndia/Norway/Denmark, 2012, Documentary, Hindi, 96 minutes

FRI

25 03:30PM

TIPA

12

For thousands of years, India’s Dalits were abhorred, considered “untouchables,” denied education, and treated as bonded labour. In 1923, Bhimrao Ambedkar broke taboo restrictions, received doctorates abroad, and returned to India to fight for the emancipation of his people. He drafted the Indian Constitution and encouraged his followers to discard Hinduism and embrace Buddhism. His legend is still spread today through poetry and song. In 1997, a statue of Dr. Ambedkar in a Dalit colony in Mumbai was desecrated with a garland of footwear. As angry residents gathered, police opened fire, killing ten citizens. Vilas Ghogre, a leftist poet, hung himself in protest. Jai Bhim Comrade, shot over 14 years, follows the music and tradition of commentary on class politics that Vilas had been a part of.

--

Jai Bhim ComradeIndia, 2011, Documentary, Hindi, 199 minutes

DIRECTOR: Anand Patwardhan is one of India’s pre-eminent and most acclaimed documentary filmmakers, and a leading social and political activist. For over three decades, his films have unflinchingly yet sensitively tackled issues as diverse and controversial as corruption, slum dwellers, nuclear arms race, citizen activism and communalism. His films have consistently faced state

censorship as well as incurred the wrath of religious fundamentalists. Known for following his subjects over long periods of time, his films include, Bombay: Our City (Hamara Sahar) (1985), In the Name of God (Ram ke Naam) (1992), Father, Son and Holy War (Pitra, Putra aur Dharmayuddha) (1995), and War and Peace (Jang aur Aman) (2002).


FRI

25 10:00AM

TIPA

13

La Voz De Los Silenciados is a radically different silent film that tells the story of modern-day slavery, using non-actors, Brechtian edits, a brutal subway landscape, and the isolation of deafness. Somewhere in this manic plot is also a magic penguin. Inspired by a true story, the film follows Olga, a hearing-impaired teenager from Central America. Lured to New York under false promises, she finds herself a slave to an international criminal syndicate. Forced to sell “I am deaf” trinkets on the subway, Olga is trapped inside a nightmare that will not end – and we are trapped with her. The routine forced upon her transforms an innocent girl into a street-wise young woman, reliant on wit and creativity to earn her quota from tourists and commuters alike. But will it be possible for Olga to ever escape this drudgery? And what does a penguin have to do with all of this?


DIRECTOR: Maximón Monihan was raised in Seattle’s Central District. He was a regular instalment in the city’s street kid/punk scene that served as the foundation for the classic documentary film, Streetwise. By the late-80s, he was sponsored by the legendary H-Street skateboard team and was featured in, and worked on, numerous landmark skate films, most notably Shackle Me Not and

Hokus Pokus. During this time Monihan earned a degree in Philosophy and Cultural Studies from University of California, Santa Cruz. By the mid-90s he relocated to Brooklyn and stopped skating professionally to instead make skate films for his former sponsors. He also began working as a film critic for Pseudo.com, the first-ever online TV network. In 2005, Monihan launched his own production company, Bricolagista!, and has shot a number of short films, online TV series and music videos. La Voz de los Silenciados is his first feature film.

La Voz De Los SilenciadosUnited States, 2013, Drama, No Dialogue, 85 minutes

SUN

27 02:30PM

TIPA

14

Lasting is an emotional love story about Michał and Karina, a pair of Polish students who meet and fall in love with each other while working summer jobs in Spain. An unexpected nightmare brutally breaks into their carefree time among the sun-soakedvineyards and throws their lives into chaos. Michal and Karina return to Poland and must come to terms with the dark secret that threatens to destroy their relationship.

LastingPoland, 2013, Drama, Polish/Spanish, 95 minutes

DIRECTOR: Jacek Borcuch’s film path mirrors his own constant search for meaning, rooted firmly in human existence. He took to film direction after encounters with acting, music and philosophy, as it enabled him to unite all his strengths. Filmmaking provides the opportunity to tell his own stories andintroduce them to wider audiences, into a so-called impartial ground. He has

written and directed four feature films including Tulips and Cauliflower. His third film, All That I Love, was a breakout success. It has won numerous prizes at international festivals, has been shown in cinemas in more than fifteen countries, and was Poland’s official Oscar entry in 2011. His latest film Lasting had its world premiere in the World Dramatic Competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. - With support from the Polish Institute, New Delhi.


FRI

25 05:45PM

TIPA

15

To Let the World In is a two-volume film project that spans a significant period in the history of contemporary Indian art – from the early 1980s to the present day – during which it reinvented itself in tandem with India’s economic rise and asserted itself as a major international force. Avijit Mukul Kishore’s ambitious film features the works of two generations of visual artists and traces their journey through a collage of interviews, archival photographs, and artworks.

DIRECTOR: Avijit Mukul Kishore is a filmmaker and cinematographer based in Mumbai, India. He specialises in documentary films and collaborations with visual artists on video and film-based installations. He is also actively involved in art, cinema and cultural pedagogy with several institutions. His films include: Vertical City; Certified Universal; and Snapshots from a Family Album. To Let the

World In screened at the 2013 Sheffield Doc Fest and was received warmly by critics and audiences alike.- With support from the British Council, New Delhi

To Let The World InIndia, 2013, Documentary, Hindi/English/Gujarati, Vol I 93 minutes, Vol II 53 minutes

VOL 1 @

VOL 2 @

SUN

2712:15PM

TIPA

06:00PM

Club House Filmmaker will be present


16

SUN

27 02:00PM

Club House

At the close of the war in Germany, 1945, a group of children set out to cross a devastated country to reach their grandmother some 900 kilometres to the north. The eldest, Lore, is left in charge of her four younger siblings when their SS Nazi parents are taken into Allied custody. The children must make a journey that exposes them to the reality and consequences of their parents’ actions. In meeting the charismatic and intriguing Thomas, a young Jewish refugee, Lore soon finds her world shattered by feelings of both hatred and desire. She is transfixed by her fear of the young man but in order to survive, she must trust the one person she has always been taught to think of as the enemy.

DIRECTOR: Cate Shortland studied at Sydney University and graduated with a BA in Fine Arts in 1991. In 2000, she graduated from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Directing. Cate has written and directed four multi-award-winning short films – Strap On Olympia, Pentuphouse, Flowergirland Joy. Cate wrote and directed her first feature, Somersault (2004), which

premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section. In 2004, Cate won Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Director and Writer, and Somersault was released in over 15 countries. Cate set up and directed a number of episodes of The Secret Life of Us for Network 10/Channel 4 UK. She also directed the 2 x 1 hour mini- series The Silence for ABC TV, produced by Jan Chapman, and most recently adapted one of the stories from Christos Tsiolkas’ novel, The Slap.

LoreAustralia/Germany, 2012, Drama, German, 109 minutes

17

Middle class housewife, Ila, is trying to spice up her marriage through her cooking. However, the special lunchbox she prepared has been mistakenly delivered to an office worker, Saajan, a lonely man on the verge of retirement. Curious about the lack of reaction from her husband, Ila puts a little note in the following day’s lunchbox. Thus begins a series of lunchbox notes between Saajan and Ila, as the mere comfort of anonymously communicating with a stranger soon evolves into an unexpected friendship. Gradually, their notes become confessions about their loneliness, memories, regrets, fears, and even small joys. As they discover a new sense of self and find an anchor to hold on to in the big city of Mumbai that so often crushes hopes and dreams, Ila and Saajan become lost in a virtual relationship that could jeopardize both their realities.

,

DIRECTOR: The Lunchbox is Ritesh Batra’s debut feature. His short films have been shown at many international film festivals and fine arts venues. His recent short, Café Regular, Cairo, screened at over 40 international film festivals and won 12 awards including the International Critics Prize at Oberhausen, and Special Jury Mentions at Tribeca and Chicago. Currently working on his next

film, Photograph, Ritesh now lives between Mumbai and New York.

Producer Guneet Monga was voted one of the top 12 women achievers in the global entertainment industry by Hollywood Reporter and among the top 50 Indians changing India by India Today. She has paved the way for independent Indian cinema globally, and has worked on films including the Oscar nominated short film, Kavi, Gangs of Wasseypur, Parts 1 & 2, Aiyya, That Girl In Yellow Boots, and Shaitan.

The LunchboxIndia, 2013, Drama, Hindi, 104 minutes

THU

2406:30PM

Club House

08:30PM

Club House

18

A young Spanish director gets fired from his job at a TV company. Recovering his dream to make movies, he travels to India in search of his first feature film, only to discover that his real search is not in India but back home. Back in Madrid, however, things do not exactly work out as expected... Halfway between documentary and fiction, Mapa is a road movie told in the first person about a young filmmaker who travels to India in search of a new "map" for love and life.

MapaSpain, 2012, Documentary, Spanish, 85 minutes

DIRECTOR: León Siminiani majored in Spanish Literature and Film Direction at Columbia University, New York. Passionate about the possibilities of the audiovisual, he investigated many different formats and genres. Some of his most notable fiction film work includes Dos más (2001), which won Best Drama at the 2002 EMMY Awards for Students, Archipiélago (2003), winner of the

Jury Award, Best Screenplay and Audience Award at the Columbia University Film Festival 2003, and Ludoterapia (2007), Best Short film at Europa Cinema 2007. His most notable nonfiction film work includes the series of mini-documentaries, Key Concepts from a Modern World, the first four installments of which have won more than 100 international awards. Produced by Avalon P.C., Pantalla Partida and himself, Mapa is his first feature film, which investigates the fertile border where fiction and nonfiction meet.

FRI

25 01:45PM

Club House

19

Two Chinese youths land in a spaceship outside Preston in the North of England. Their mission: to re-establish contact and effect the retrieval of the ‘Glorious 100’, sent to Earth millennia ago in human form to study and observe the development of another race. After making contact with one of the 100, now a Pakistani shopkeeper, they discover that many of their kind have become corrupted, forgetting their original purpose and slowly becoming influenced by and in turn influencing their adopted home.

Piercing BrightnessUnited Kingdom, 2013, Drama, English, 76 minutes

DIRECTOR: Piercing Brightness is the first feature film by artist Shezad Dawood (born London, 1974). His distinctive visual style and conceptual approach has developed in films and installations shown at major exhibitions in the UK and internationally, including the 53rd Venice Biennale and Altermodern, the Third Tate triennial, curated by Nicolas Bourriaud, (both 2009), and the

Busan Biennale: Living in Evolution curated by Takashi Azumaya (2010). His work is currently the subject of a major international touring exhibition, also entitled Piercing Brightness.

FRI

25 12:00PM

Club House

21

FRI

25 02:00PM

TIPA

There are men who squirm at the mention of a woman’s period. And then there’s Muruganantham, a school dropout who realized that the majority of women in India could not afford sanitary pads and decided to do something about it. With limited resources at his disposal, he adopted extreme methods to conduct his research. It was not long before his community shunned him. Even his wife decided that he was a pervert and left him. But that was then. Today, Muruganantham is hailed as a visionary whose machines are empowering poor Indian women with access to both basic femininehygiene and a livelihood. Menstrual Man tells the inspiring story of a man who rose from below the poverty line and stood up for India’s ignored. Presenting its protagonist’s passionate views on social entrepreneurship, it underscores the importance of empowering women to combat poverty, and the power in every individual to make a difference.


DIRECTOR: Amit Virmani is a graduate of Southwestern University, Texas, where he was honoured with the Feminist Voices Award. Menstrual Man is his second film. His debut, Cowboys in Paradise, was one of the most talked-aboutAsian documentaries in recent years. The controversial film was featured on CNN, BBC and various international media, and is regarded as a valuable

counterpoint to Eat, Pray, Love. It has been incorporated into women’s studies curricula at more than 80 universities. He currently lives in Singapore.

Menstrual ManIndia/Singapore, 2013, Documentary, Hindi/Tamil/English, 63 minutes

20

Nadia, Masha and Katia, members of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot, performed a 40-second "punk prayer" inside Russia's main cathedral, leading to their arrest and culminating in a trial that reverberated around the world. Filmed over the course of six months, with unparalleled access and exclusive footage, this film looks at the real people behind the now famous colourful balaclavas. Following the bizarre and intricate twists of the trial, we observe the three women fight back against a justice system that seems impervious to logic. As they defend their convictions from inside a cage in the courtroom, Pussy Riot members plan new guerrilla performances and cultivate a wordwide protest movement. Moving from farce to tragedy and back again, the film explores how political and religious forces contrived to make an example out of three young artists who stepped out of line.

- DIRECTORS: Mike Lerner has been making documentaries for twenty-fiveyears. He has won numerous awards, including an Academy Nomination for Best Documentary Feature, four Sundance Awards, and a Grierson Award for Best Documentary at Prix Italia.

Maxim Pozdorovkin’s first feature film, Capital, a modern-day city symphony about the construction of Astana, a utopian city in the centre of Kazakhstan, has been shown at film festivals around the world, exhibited at art galleries, and broadcast internationally. Current projects include Citizen Bout, a documentary about the international arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Pussy Riot: A Punk PrayerUK/Russia, 2013, Documentary, Russian, 88 minutes

SAT

26 10:00AM

Club House

22

Laos: ten-year-old Ahlo, believed to bring bad luck, is blamed for a string of disasters. When his family loses their home, Ahlo meets the spirited orphan Kia and her eccentric uncle Purple – an ex-soldier with a purple suit, a rice-wine habit, and a James Brown fetish. Struggling to hang on to his father’s trust, Ahlo leads his family, Purple, and Kia through a war-scarred land in search of a new home. In a last plea to prove he’s not cursed, Ahlo builds a giant rocket to enter the Rocket Festival. As the most bombed country in the world shoots back at the sky, the boy reaches to the heavens for forgiveness. Gripping and heartwarming, with remarkable access to real rituals and festivities in the mountains of Laos, the film presents a unique view into a world the audience will surely never have seen before.

Produ

The RocketAustralia, 2013, Drama, Lao, 96 minutes

DIRECTOR: Director Kim Mordaunt received a diploma in acting from LAMDA and is a graduate of film production at UTS in Sydney. RGM represents him as a director. He has taught filmmaking and drama in Asian, Arabic and Australian Aboriginal communities, and been a filmmaking mentor in refugee centres and prisons. The Rocket is Kim’s debut feature. He is currently developing

two features with The Rocket’s producer, Sylvia Wilczynski: Zig Zag and Pink Mist. Producer Sylvia Wilczynski has produced award-winning fiction and documentary films for international theatrical and television release. Her films have screened at over 45 interna-tional film festivals and been sold to television in most territories. Sylvia graduated in 1993 in film production at UTS in Sydney, receiving her early industry experience working on films for BBC and Channel 4 UK, and with some of Australia’s leading filmmakers.

SAT

26 12:30PM


23

Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA)

Club House

A

B

O

Screening Venues

Important Places

EatLodging

P

P

Post Office Road

Jogiwara Road

Temple Road

Temple Road

Clubhouse Road

Dharamkot

Gallu Devi

Bhagsu

B

A

1

45 6 7

8

9

10 113

2

2

3

4

7

12

6

5

1

Common Ground Cafe

Lhamo's Croissant

Hotel Tibet

Mcl Lo Restaurant and Bar

Tibet Kitchen

Jimmy's Italian Restaurant

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Glenmore Cottage

Kunga Guest House

Hotel Bhagsu

Pema Thang Guest House

Zambala Guest House

Chonor House

Serkong House Guest House

Ashoka Restaurant

Moonpeak Espresso and Thali

Pema Thang Restaurant

Lungta Japanese Restaurant

Dokebi Korean Restaurant

Cafe Illiterati

7

8

9

10

11

12

To Dharamshala

To Dharamshala

DIFF Office

McLeod Ganj Main Square

Parking

McLeod Ganj

O

Tushita RoadTI

PA R

oad

Common Ground Cafe

Lhamo's Croissant

Hotel Tibet

Mcl Lo Restaurant and Bar

Tibet Kitchen

Jimmy's Italian Restaurant

Naoshi, a stubborn old man, has a dream to rebuild his home in the town that was flattened by the once-in-a-millennium tsunami on 11 March 2011. His house was destroyed and his son, a member of the volunteer fire corps, killed in the tragedy. But Naoshi refuses to leave his ruined house despite repeated calls from the town administration to evacuate. For him, his hereditary land is the sacred place that provides sanctuary to the spirits of his ancestors and his late son. To build a new house is to welcome the family spirits back, but it is also a call to his dispersed neighbours to return and rebuild their shattered community. His ultimate dream is to join them after death and to watch the rebirth of his hometown. Roots is a passionate and inspiring film that follows his efforts over a year and a half.

RootsJapan, 2013, Documentary, Japanese, 118 minutes

DIRECTOR: Born in Tokyo in 1958, Kaoru Ikeya graduated from Doshisha University majoring in Aesthetics, Art and Philosophy. Having directed documentaries for television, he released his first theatrical feature film Daughter from Yan'an (2002), which received international awards, including Best Documentary from Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Silver Hugo

from Chicago International Film Festival and the Vaclav Havel Special Award from One World Film Festival, among others. His second film, The Ants (2006), was a long running hit in theatres in Japan and won the Humanitarian Award from Hong Kong International Film Festival and CDS Filmmaker Award from Full Frame Film Festival. His latest film, Roots (Senzo ni Naru), received a Special Mention by the Ecumenical Jury at the Forum, Berlinale 2013.

FRI

25 03:30PM

Club House

26

After sending away his 12-year-old son Siddharth for work, Mahendra (a chainwallahwho fixes broken zippers on the streets) is relieved – his financial burdens will be alleviated. But when Siddharth fails to return home, Mahendra learns he may have been taken by child-traffickers. With little resources and no connections, he travels across India in pursuit of his son, with the hope that whatever force arbitrarily took his child away will return him unharmed.

DIRECTOR: Richie Mehta’s first feature film, Amal, has won over thirty international awards, was nominated for six Genie Awards, including Best Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay, and was named one of the top ten Canadian films of the decade by Playback Magazine. Mehta recently completed the sci-fi feature film I’ll Follow you Down, starring Haley Joel Osment, Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell, and Victor Garber, for Resolute Films and eONE films, to be released in 2014.

SiddharthCanada/India, 2013, Feature, Hindi, 96 mins

SAT

26 05:00PM

Club House

27

Karin and Simon are visiting their parents and little sister. Over the course of the day, the washing machine is repaired, people sit together at the kitchen table, carry out an experiment with an orange peel, talk about lungs, and re-attach a button that was deliberately torn off. Comings and goings, all manner of doings, each movement leading to the next – one word follows another in this carefully staged chain reaction of actions and sentences, while in between, there are silent gazes and anecdotes about experiences. Even the pets and the material surroundings play a part, some objects seeming to come alive as if by magic. Commonplace actions and familiar items appear absurd and eerie in this narrative’s cosmos. Putting the absurdities of daily life on display and translating unspectacular events into an exciting choreography of everyday life, this film is no small feat.

,


DIRECTOR: From 2002 to 2005, Ramon Zürcher attended Bern University of the Arts (HKB), completing an art degree with a focus on video. In 2005, he received the Kiefer Hablitzel Award for Visual Arts for his video work. Since 2006, he has studied directing at the German Film and Television Academy, Berlin. The Strange Little Cat is his first feature-length film and has generated considerable praise and positive reviews on the international film festival circuit.

The Strange Little CatGermany, 2013, Drama, German, 72 minutes

SAT

26 08:30PM

TIPA

28

SAT

26 07:00PM

Club House

Once upon a time, there was a storyteller. In a lonely railway station, somewhere in Kolkata, he spoke to trains. He wanted to tell a story - the only story to tell. Inside the darkness of his mind unfolds a kaleidoscope of fantasy. Once upon a time, there was a prince. A victim of his destiny, he was banished with his mother to a dark and distant prison palace. Here he grew up, without hope, without a future, his mother drowning herself in alcohol. His depression is countered only by his friend, the merchant’s son, who argues that it was indeed the prince’s choice to remain locked in. As a mysterious Oracle passes on a message of liberation, the prince realises that he is only prisoner of his own mind, and sets off with his friend on an adventurous voyage.

theDIRECTOR: Born and raised in Kolkata, Q is an arts graduate from Calcutta University who worked in advertising for twelve years in India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. He directed over fifty television commercials, winning various awards along the way. Then, inspired by the independent films of Europe and Japan, he retired voluntarily and shifted trade and city. Back in Kolkata, Q started a

progressive arts collective, OVERDOSE, making original film, design and music. He produces, writes, shoots and directs himself. He has won numerous international awards, including the Indian national award for best documentary. He is also a rapper. He works hard on his sense of humour to keep himself afloat.

Tasher Desh (The Land of Cards)India, 2012, Drama, Bengali, 112 minutes

29

Told through the eyes of ten-year-old Lucia, this is the story of a broken family's final journey – a journey to the north of the country, and a journey of separation. Ana and Fernando have promised to take their two children, Lucia and seven-year-old Manuel, to the beaches of northern Chile. They set off over the course of a long weekend. As time is whiled away in playful naivety in the back of the car, Lucia and Manuel eagerly long for the promised beach in youthful anticipation. But in the front, tensions surface as Fernando is preoccupied with his obsession to visit the land left to him by his father, and Ana is searching for an unknown destination of her own where their issues dissolve. The forced intimacy of the car's interior set against the vast and arid Chilean landscape magnifies the claustrophobic isolation within this poignant tale of innocence and loss.

,

Thursday Till SundayChile/Netherlands, 2012, Drama, Spanish, 96 minutes

DIRECTOR: Dominga Sotomayor was born in Santiago de Chile in 1985. In 2007, she finished her filmmaking studies and created the production company Cinestacion. She has directed the short films, Cessna (2005), Noviembre (2007), Debajo (2007), La Montaña (2008) and Videojuego (2009), which have taken part and received awards in several international film festivals. Her first feature

film, Thursday Till Sunday, premiered in the Tiger Competition at the Rotterdam International Film Festival 2012. The film was supported by Cannes Cinéfondation, Résidence, the Hubert Bals Fund, the Dutch Film Fonds, Fondo de Fomento Audiovisual, Corfo, Ibermedia, Buenos Aires Lab, AustraLab and TyPA. Her second feature film project, Tarde Para Morir Joven, is currently being developed in the Jerusalem International Film Lab and Binger Filmlab programmes.

FRI

25 10:00AM

Club House

Watermark is a feature documentary film bringing together stories from around the globe about our relationship with water. It takes us from massive floating abalone farms in China and the construction site of the biggest arch dam in the world to the barren desert delta of Colorado and the water-intensive leather tanneries of Dhaka. Shot in stunning 5K ultra high-definition video, this film shows the scale of water’s reach, as well as the magnitude of our need and use. This is balanced by forays into the particular: a haunting memory of a stolen river, a mysterious figure roaming ancient rice terraces, the crucial data hidden in a million year old piece of ice, a pilgrim’s private ritual amongthousands of others at the water’s edge. In Watermark, the viewer is immersed in a world defined by a magnificent force of nature that we all too often take for granted.

WatermarkCanada, 2013, Documentary, English, 92 minutes

DIRECTORS: Jennifer Baichwal was born in Montréal and grew up in Victoria, British Columbia. She studied philosophy and theology at McGill and received an M.A. in 1994. She has been directing and producing documentaries for 20 years. Let it Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles, her first feature documentary, won a 1999 International Emmy for Best Arts Documentary. Her 2006 film, Manufactured Landscapes, was widely praised and won several awards including Best Canadian Film at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Edward Burtynsky is one of Canada's most respected photographers. Born in 1955 of Ukrainian heritage in St. Catharines, Ontario, Burtynsky is a graduate of Ryerson University and studied Graphic Art at Niagara College in Welland. His distinctions include the TED Prize, The Outreach Award at the Rencontres d’Arles, The Flying Elephant Fellowship, Applied Arts Magazine book awards, and the Roloff Beny Book award.

FRI

25 08:00PM


When lonely, tortured pawnbroker Sarathsiri meets and marries the beautiful and enigmatic Selvi, he thinks he has finally found a way to put his past behind him. But a chance visit from an old friend opens up barely-healing wounds. In the backdrop of a scarred nation that is coming to grips with the aftermath of a thirty-year civil war, will love help them to cross the bridge? Or will the past continue to plague the present? Inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s short story, The Meek One, With You Without You is a moving drama of revenge and reconciliation set in post-war Sri Lanka.

DIRECTOR: Born in 1962, Prasanna Vithanage’s volume of work has made him one of Sri Lanka’s leading filmmakers and granted him a popular reputation worldwide. He began his career in the 1980s as a theatre director. He directed (and translated into Sinhala) George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man in 1986 and Dario Fo’s Raspberries and Trumpets in 1991, before setting out as a

filmmaker in 1992. While also devoting serious time and effort to the education and training of young people in the art and business of filmmaking, Vithanage returned to his theatrical roots in 2006. He combined two short plays of Dario Fo into the hugely popular Sinhala play, Horu Samaga Heluwen, which ran to nearly 150 performances island-wide. Vithanage also produced Uberto Pasolini’s Machan, the international co-production, which debuted to great applause at the 2008 Venice International Film Festival.

With You Without YouSri Lanka, 2012, Drama, Tamil/Sinhalese, 90 minutes


SUN

26 04:30PM

TIPA

32

Founded in 2002 by Francesca von Habsburg in Vienna, Austria, Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (TBA21) represents the fourth generation of the Thyssen family’s outstanding commitment to the arts. TBA21 is dedicated to the commissioning and dissemination of ambitious, experimental, and unconventional projects that defy traditional categorizations.

Realizing the vision of TBA21’s founder, Francesca von Habsburg, the foundation promotes transdisciplinary artistic practices, embracing architecture, film, sound, music, and science, often informed by an interest in social aesthetics and environmental concerns. This approach has gained the foundation a pioneering reputation throughout the world.

TBA21’s collection hosts an extensive filmic archive, with works directed and produced by leading contemporary international artists. Most commissions, initiated and produced by the foundation, form an integral part of major contemporary art exhibitions, such as the Venice Biennale, the Istanbul Biennial, and documenta.

A selection of films from the TBA21 collection exploring multiple socio-political, historical and psychological issues around the question of image-making and representation in relation to the particular socio-religious and geographic construct of the ‘Arab World’, forms the basis of DIFF 2013 and TBA21’s ambitious collaboration, Art and Film.

THYSSEN-BORNEMISZA ART CONTEMPORARYTBA21ABOUT

Exhibition, TBA21–Augarten: Cerith Wyn Evans:The What If?… Scenario (after LG)

Photo: © Jens Ziehe / TBA21, 2013

art and filmAriana details a western film crew’s journey to the Panjshir Valley in northeastern Afghanistan, its impenetrable landscape having imbued it with a unique history of independence and resistance to Soviet and Taliban invasions. Investigating how landscape determines a region's history, the crew attempts to film a panorama of the valley. However, they are denied access to the necessary viewpoint due to its strategic value and realize that capturing this view constitutes a mode of control. Ariana reflects on ideas of utopia, resistance and viewpoint, questioning the role of images in cultural, (geo-)political and historical conflicts and constructs.

DIRECTOR: Marine Hugonnier was born in 1969 in Paris and lives in London. Hugonnier has had solo exhibitions at the S.M.A.K. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, MAMCO, Malmö Konsthall, Kunstverein, Braunschweig, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Nogueras Blanchard and Index, Stockholm. Her work has been featured in numerous biennials.

Ariana2003 • 18 min

LIVE LECTURE PERFORMANCE BY MARKUS REYMANNWalid Raad's performative exhibition, Scratching on Things I Could Disavow, focuses on the recent emergence of a large new infrastructure for the visual arts in the Arab world. These developments, when viewed alongside the geo-political, economic, social, and military conflicts that have consumed the region in the past few decades, shape a rich yet thorny ground for creative work. Raad is intrigued by the increased visibility of the makers, sponsors, consumers and histories of Arab art and new infrastructure. In his analysis, Raad is less interested in the fraught motives that prompt the sheikhs and sheikhas in the Gulf to invest in the arts than he is in screening these material developments through Jalal Toufic’s concept of "the withdrawal of tradition past a surpassing disaster."

DIRECTOR: Walid Raad was born 1967 in Chbanieh, Lebanon. He lives and works in New York. His work has featured in international group and solo exhibitions including Reina Sofia, the Whitechapel Gallery, dOCUMENTA 13, and the Louvre.

Scratching on Things I Could Disavow Section 88: Views from the Inner to the Outer Compartments2010 • 15 min

SAT

26 5:30PM

TIPA

34A selection of works from the

Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection

The Fall of a Hair, Part 1- The Pixelated Revolution2012 • 21 min

The Pixelated Revolution explores the role of social media, texting and mobile phone cameras during the current Syrian revolution. Rabih Mroué juxtaposes shocking live footage from cell phones held by citizens “filming their own death,” with quotes about the ‘rules’ of pure film based on Dogma 95. Mroué examines whether mobile phones become extensions of protesters’ bodies or whether phone displays and camera lenses convey a false sense of immunity, whilst considering these photographic traces framed by the ever-changing universe of the Internet, incomplete downloads, pixelated images, and ruptured communication.

DIRECTOR: Rabih Mroué was born in 1967 in Beirut and lives in Hazmieh, Lebanon. Mroué has had exhibitions and performances at, among many others, the CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo and the Flughafen Tempelhof, Berlin. His work has also been featured in dOCUMENTA 13. - Courtesy the Artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut, Hamburg.

Cabaret Crusades - The Horror Show File2010 • 32 min

This epic marionette animation film explores the history of the Crusades, focusing on the years 1096-1099, after a Papal mandate spent half-a-million Franks on a military campaign to ‘reclaim’ Jerusalem from Muslim armies. The production uses highly expressive 200-year-old marionettes from the Lupi collection in Turin, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in a tragic history, distant in time but not effect. A surreal and mythical atmosphere emerges, blending drama and cynicism to tell a story of remote events that could hardly be more topical today. The work is inspired by The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, written in 1986 by the Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf. DIRECTOR: Wael Shawky was born 1971 in Alexandria, Egypt, where he lives and works. His work has featured in international solo exhibitions including at the Kunsthalle Winterthur, Townhouse Gallery, Cairo, Cittadellarte-Fondazione Pistoletto, 12th Istanbul Biennial, dOCUMENTA 13, the 9th Gwangju Biennial, and many others.

Presented by Francesca von Habsburg, founder of TBA21

35

Omer Fast explores ‘Continuity’ as a filmic device and psychological phenomenon. Viewers watch three iterations of the same scenario: a youth being brought home by his parents after having apparently returned from the war in Afghanistan, the son played by a different actor each time. The film becomes increasingly oppressive as we watch the attempt of a couple to come to terms with the loss of their son with the aid of hired ‘escorts’. The repetitive montage evokes the compulsive repetition of trauma, withholding closure or catharsis, as Continuity ultimately portrays a situation in pursuit of its own resolution.

DIRECTOR: Omer Fast was born in 1972 in Jerusalem, Israel. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Fast has had solo exhibitions at, among others, the Frankfurter Kunstverein, Pinakothek der Moderne, Berkeley Art Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Wexner Center for the Arts. His work has also been featured in dOCUMENTA 13 and numerous biennials.

Continuity2012 • 40 mins

This film essay analyzes the conventions and complications that arise in the production of iconic war images. Combining amateur, government, photojournalistic and media sources, the work investigates the re-interpretation of information in the media, questioning the correlation between factual evidence in the form of images rehashed through the media and actual ‘pictures’ of reality. Snyder simultaneously focuses on the materiality of war and the relationship between the 'reality' of war and its documentation as spectacle. Addressing the international consumption of images and consumer goods beyond all boundaries, Snyder examines the ethics of reportage, the staging and manipulation of images, and the role of photojournalists in the era of consumer digital imaging.

DIRECTOR: Sean Snyder was born in 1972 in Virginia Beach, USA. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. His works have featured in many international solo exhibitions and group-shows including Stedelijk Museum, Museum Ludwig, Institute for Contemporary Art, The Israeli Center for Digital Art and numerous biennials.

Casio, Seiko, Sheraton, Toyota, Mars 2004 • 13 mins

SAT

26 5:30PM

TIPA

36

Set in a multicultural and religious suburban town, Ek Aakash focuses on an incident in the life of two boys, Rahul and Abbas. Their playful kite flying session turns into a battle of one-upmanship as they are blinded by their emotions. Letting loose a strange mixture of ego and aggression, they reach a point where they need each other’s help.

DIRECTOR: Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti has a diploma in Cinematography from the Film and TV Institute of India, Pune, and a Bachelor in Fine Arts (Photography) from JNTU College of Fine Arts. His short film, Ek Aakash, produced by UNESCO in their “program for creative content,” won the Special Jury Award during the Indian National Film

Ek AakashIndia, 2004, Short, Hindi, 16 minutes

A tribal dancer is caught in a daily struggle for survival in an automobile factory, caught between the burden of earning a living for his family and simultaneously preserving the tradition of ritual Ganesha dancing. The dancer lives in perpetual fear of the day when he will have to choose between his livelihood and the preservation of tradition through artistic expression.

DIRECTOR: Bikas Ranjan Mishra is a writer/director and film critic based in Mumbai. His short film, Dance of Ganesha, had its world premiere at the 16th Busan International Film Festival in 2011. Bikas is currently working on his first feature film, Chauranga, produced by Mumbai-based Anticlock Films, run by acclaimed director Onir and actor/producer Sanjay Suri.

Dance of GaneshaIndia, 2011, Short, No Dialogue, 15 minutes

A newly married couple from rural Maharashtra live in a small room next to the tracks of the Mumbai local train. Amidst the cacophony of the noisy neighbourhood, the couple steals nuggets of romance thanks to the local train.

DIRECTOR: Bharat Pawar was born and schooled in a small village in Maharashtra. He migrated with his family to Mumbai to seek higher education. He was attracted to filmmaking and became a part of Spandan Parivar, a group of aspiring filmmakers and creative artists, where he collaborated on various short films. He is currently completing his bachelor’s degree in Mass Media at Somaiya College.

LocalIndia, 2012, Short, Marathi, 5 minutes

37

A spirited and independent single mother struggles on a daily basis to provide a comfortable life for her son and herself, running a small Internet cafe in Patiala, Punjab, for a living. The film highlights a phase in her life when love comes knocking on her door. If only the timing were right!

DIRECTOR: Anubhuti Kashyap was the assistant director for the films Aamir, Dev D, and most recently, Gangs of Wasseypur. Anubhuti has also done research and helped with the scripts of No One Killed Jessica and Bombay Velvet (in pre-production). Currently working on her own features, she has also written and directed the short film, Let Stalk, for UTV New Media.

Moi MarjaaniIndia, 2013, Short, Hindi, 19 minutes

Pistulya’s father passed away and his mother is the sole earning member of the family. She is unable to support the education of her children but also feels it is unnecessary. Still, Pistulya struggles with his thirst for knowledge. Eventually, his mother gives Pistulya up to thieves who teach him the art of stealing. He stays with them and is finally able to fulfill his dream of an education… but in a different way.

DIRECTOR: Nagraj Manjule was born and raised in a small town in Maharashtra. His first National Award-winning short film, Pistulya, was a reflection of his ‘felt experience.’ His first feature film is Fandry. He is one of the most significant and best-known Marathi poets of the last decade.

PistulyaIndia, 2011, Short, Marathi/Telugu, 15 minutes

39

Curated specially for DIFF by director Umesh KulkarniSAT

26 11:45AM

CLUB HOUSE

Ten-year-old Samir is living in a chawl in an Indian metropolis with his widowed mother and grandfather. An easy opportunity to earn money arises with a grinding machine. The machine brings with it an incessant and oppressive sound that impedes on the physical and mental space of the whole family. Samir’s innocent mind is alert to this oppression, and rebels against it.

DIRECTOR: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni was born in Pune, India. His thesis film, Girni (2005), won several awards and screened internationally. The Wild Bull (2009), his first feature, premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival. His other films include the shorts, The Three of Us (2008), The Spell (2010) and Dissolution (2010). The Temple (2011) is his second feature.

Good Morning MumbaiIndia, 2011, Short, Marathi, 13 minutes

Good Morning Mumbai is about a slum tenant who sets out for his morning toilet ritual only for a series of unfortunate events to come in his way. As he finds a solution and accomplishes his goal, his actions create another problem for a different group of people. The film depicts the basic problems caused by urban growth, such as lack of space and infrastructure, sanitation problems, pollution, overpopulation and human relationships. DIRECTOR: Troy Vasanth Chandrakath has a B.A. in Architecture and an M.A. in Animation Film design. Apart from Good Morning Mumbai, he has worked on several group projects and individual animation short film projects, such as Chai Break, The Dream of a Carpet and Kidrida.

GirniIndia, 2005, Short, Marathi, 22 minutes

TatpaschatIndia, 2012, short, Hindi, 15 minutes

One fine day, everything starts going right in an observation home…

DIRECTOR: Vasudev Keluskar was born in 1987 and was admitted into the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, in 2009.

38

The documentary as a force for social and political change is a well-established and prominent part of the genre. But how do documentary filmmakers maintain a sense of personal creativity and their own vision while tackling subjects that are often powerful, overwhelming and urgent in their own right? Is the subject more important than the filmmaking vision? Or is a filmmaker’s first responsibility to their own creative impulse? Anand Patwardhan, Nishtha Jain, Amit Virmani and Avijit Mukul Kishore approach these questions through their own experience as filmmakers who have tackled critical socio-political issues while preserving their artistic integrity. The discussion promises to be wide-ranging, stimulating and deeply illuminating, shedding light on the mysterious conflation of artistic compulsion and social conscience.

Art, Politics and Social ActivismTHE DOCUMENTARY AS A FORCE FOR CHANGE

FRI

25 05:45PM

Club House

A Panel Discussion with Anand Patwardhan, Nishtha Jain, Amit Virmani and Avijit Mukul Kishore

Of the millions of aspiring filmmakers around the world who dream everyday of making their first feature, only a handful succeed, and fewer yet go on to make a successful career of it. And yet, the odds don’t seem to deter anyone; for every one person whose dreams are dashed, several more rush in happily to take up the challenge. What does it take to break the barrier and make that first feature film? How does it feel, after years of struggling, to suddenly show your film in theatres and film festivals, and have audiences and critics respond to it? Every filmmaker has a unique story of how he or she got there, but at some deeper level there is something in common that they all share: the agony and ecstasy, and the trials and tribulations, of making that first film. The panelists taking part are all first-time helmers or producers who have helped realize that goal. Their personal stories and experiences promises to make for a riveting and illuminating discussion.

First Take: First FeatureBREAKING THE FIRST FILM BARRIER

SAT

26 02:30PM

Club House

A Panel Discussion with Nitin Kakkar, Sange Dorjee Thongdok, Maximón Monihan, Guneet Monga, Nagraj Manjule, Sylvia Wilczynski and Ramon Zürcher

41

What is the basis of non-fiction cinematography? How has it evolved over the years? And how is it different from the way fiction is filmed? Avijit Mukul Kishore’s interactive masterclass views cinematography for non-fiction films from a historical perspective and looks at how a variety of factors over the years have determined why these films look the way they do. Using examples from non-fiction films made in several genres, the session examines the technological, aesthetic, political and ethical considerations at play while constructing images, often breaking down the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction. A must for anyone interested in making non-fiction films or in cinematography in general.

Understanding the Aesthetic of Non-Fiction CinematographyMasterclass with Avijit Mukul Kishore

SUN

27 04:15PM

Club House

42

DIFF is exhibiting a series of drawings by Vancouver-based Japanese artist Tomoyo Ihaya at TIPA. These images were drawn and painted by Tomoyo from January 2012 onwards, mostly in Dharamshala. In early 2012, the growing number of self-immolations in Tibet against Chinese rule upset her profoundly. She arranged to live in Dharamshala for several months among the exile Tibetan community and vowed to make a drawing each time she heard a report about another act of self-immolation. For her, these were a way of bearing witness, paying tribute to, and mourning the dead through her art.

Born in Japan, Tomoyo Ihaya has held solo and group shows internationally. Her curiosity about other cultures and her strong belief that art and one’s life should be intertwined has led her to travel and produce art work through international artist-in-residency programs in many parts of the world.

Burning TibetAn Exhibition of Tomoyo Ihaya’s Drawings

TIPA

43

HOTEL EAGLES NEST

w w w. h ot e l e a g l e s n e s t . c omi n fo @ h ot e l e a g l e s n e s t . c om+ 9 1 1 8 9 2 2 2 1 9 2 0 , + 9 1 1 8 9 2 2 2 0 7 9 2+ 9 1 1 8 9 2 2 2 0 7 9 4 , M : + 9 1 9 2 1 8 4 0 2 8 2 2

B E S T W I S H E S f o r D h a r a m s a l a I n t e r n a t i o n a l F i l m F e s t i v a l

From

WAYS TOUR & TRAVELS&

Andretta Artists Colony, Woodlands, Andretta,Distt. Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, 176103, India

Manager: +91 9816429091 Email: [email protected]

Website: www.mirageandretta.com

Let us lead you up thegarden path to..........

Peace & Tranquility, Jungle Walks, Bird Watching, Yoga-Space &Delicious Food.

THE

LUN

CHBO

X10

4 m

ins

@Cl

ub H

ouse

24th, Thursday 25th, Friday 26th, Saturday 27th, Sunday

Dir.

Rite

sh B

atra

, Ind

ia, 2

013

104

min

s

104

min

s

THU

RSD

AY T

ILL

SUN

DAY

96 m

ins

Dir.

Dom

inga

Sot

omay

or, C

hile

/Net

herla

nds,

2012

PIER

CIN

G B

RIG

HTN

ESS

76 m

ins

Dir.

She

zad

Daw

ood,

UK,

201

3

MA

PA85

min

sD

ir. L

eón

Sim

inia

ni, S

pain

, 201

2

ROO

TS11

8 m

ins

Dir.

Kao

ru Ik

eya,

Japa

n, 2

013

PAN

EL D

ISCU

SSIO

N12

0 m

ins

ART

, PO

LITI

CS &

SO

CIA

L AC

TIVI

SM

JAI B

HIM

CO

MRA

DE

199

min

sD

ir. A

nand

Pat

war

dhan

, Ind

ia, 2

011

MEN

STRU

AL

MA

N63

min

sD

ir. A

mit

Virm

ani,

Indi

a/Si

ngap

ore,

201

3

GU

LABI

GA

NG

96 m

ins

Dir.

Nis

htha

Jain

, Ind

ia/N

orw

ay/D

enm

ark,

201

2

LAST

ING

95 m

ins

Dir.

Jace

k Bo

rcuc

h, P

olan

d, 2

013

92 m

ins

Dir.

Jenn

ifer B

aich

wal

and

Edw

ard

Burt

ynsk

y, C

anad

a, 2

013

WAT

ERM

ARK

88 m

ins

Dir.

Tak

anor

i Tsu

jimot

o, Ja

pan,

201

3BU

SHID

O M

AN

PUSS

Y RI

OT:

A P

UN

K PR

AYER

88 m

ins

Dir.

Mik

e Le

rner

and

Max

im P

ozdo

rovk

in, U

K/Ru

ssia

, 201

3

Cura

ted

by U

mes

h Ku

lkar

ni

SID

DH

ART

H96

min

sD

ir. R

itesh

Bat

ra, C

anad

a/In

dia,

201

3

TASH

ER D

ESH

112

min

sD

ir. Q

, Ind

ia, 2

012

SPEC

IAL

EVEN

T: IN

DIA

N S

HO

RT F

ILM

S12

0 m

ins

PAN

EL D

ISCU

SSIO

N:

120

min

sFI

RST

TAKE

, FIR

ST F

EATU

RE

FAN

DRY

103

min

sD

ir. N

agra

j Man

jule

, Ind

ia, 2

013

THE

ROCK

ET96

min

sD

ir. K

im M

orda

unt,

Aust

ralia

, 201

3

THE

ACT

OF

KILL

ING

159

min

sD

ir. Jo

shua

Opp

enhe

imer

, Den

mar

k/N

orw

ay/U

K, 2

012

SPEC

IAL

EVEN

T: T

BA21

ART

AN

D F

ILM

140

min

sPr

esen

ted

by F

ranc

esca

von

Hab

sbur

g

72 m

ins

Dir.

Ram

on Z

ürch

er, G

erm

any,

201

3TH

E ST

RAN

GE

LITT

LE C

AT

THE

ACT

OF

KILL

ING

159

min

sD

ir. Jo

shua

Opp

enhe

imer

, Den

mar

k/N

orw

ay/U

K, 2

012

TO L

ET T

HE

WO

RLD

IN -

VOL

253

min

sD

ir. A

vijit

Muk

ul K

isho

re, I

ndia

, 201

3

AI W

EIW

EI: N

EVER

SO

RRY

91 m

ins

Dir.

Alis

on K

laym

an, U

SA/C

hina

, 201

2

SPEC

IAL

EVEN

TFI

LMM

AKE

R W

ILL

BE P

RESE

NT

LORE

109

min

sD

ir. C

ate

Shor

tland

, Aus

tral

ia/G

erm

any,

201

2

MA

STER

CLA

SS W

ITH

AVI

JIT

MU

KUL

KISH

ORE

105

min

sU

ND

ERST

AND

ING

THE

AEST

HET

IC O

F N

ON

-FIC

TIO

N C

INEM

ATO

GRA

PHY

CRO

SSIN

G B

RID

GES

103

min

sD

ir. S

ange

Dor

jee

Thon

gdok

, Ind

ia, 2

013

TO L

ET T

HE

WO

RLD

IN -

VOL

193

min

sD

ir. A

vijit

Muk

ul K

isho

re, I

ndia

, 201

3

LA V

OZ

DE

LOS

SILE

NCI

AD

OS

85 m

ins

Dir.

Max

imón

Mon

ihan

, USA

, 201

3

WIT

H Y

OU

WIT

HO

UT

YOU

90 m

ins

Dir.

Pra

sann

a Vi

than

age,

Sri

Lank

a, 2

012

06:0

0 pm

10:0

0 am

02:0

0 pm

03:3

0 pm

05:4

5 pm

08:0

0 pm

10:0

0 am

12:3

0 pm

02:3

0 pm

05:3

0 pm

08:3

0 pm

10:0

0 am

12:1

5 pm

02:3

0 pm

04:3

0 pm

06:3

0 pm

11

7 m

ins

Dir.

Niti

n Ka

kkar

, Ind

ia, 2

013

FILM

ISTA

AN

@TI

PA

Dir.

Rite

sh B

atra

, Ind

ia, 2

013

Dir.

Rite

sh B

atra

, Ind

ia, 2

013

THE

LUN

CH B

OX

THE

LUN

CH B

OX

10:0

0 am

12:0

0 pm

01:4

5 pm

03:3

0 pm

05:4

5 pm

08:0

0 pm

10:0

0 am

05:0

0 pm

07:0

0 pm

11:4

5 am

02:3

0 pm

11:0

0 am

06:0

0 pm

07:3

0 pm

02:0

0 pm

04:1

5 pm

06:3

0 pm

08:3

0 pm

By

Invi

tatio

n O

nly

facebook.com/diffindia

With support from Partners -...

Documents

Transcript of With support from Partners -...