Eighty films from 32 countries, including 21 feature narratives and 43 short films, will be be showcased at the 11th Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) in Dharamsala next month, as announced on Thursday.

The highlights include the India premieres of Cannes Jury Prize Winner and 2022 Oscar Nominee, Joyland (Pakistan, 2022) by Saim Sadiq; Once Upon A Time in Calcutta (India, 2022) by Aditya Vikram Sengupta; the Anurag Kashyap-presented debut feature by Parth Saurabh, Pokhar Ke Dunu Paar (On Either Sides of the Pond) (India, 2022); 2022 Oscar Nominee, Writing with Fire (India, 2021) by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Sen; and Fire in the Mountains (India 2021) by Ajitpal Singh.

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The India premieres of these acclaimed international features will also take place at DIFF 2022: Eternal Spring (Canada, 2022) by Jason Loftus; In Viaggio (Italy, 2022) by Gianfranco Rosi; Lullaby (Spain, 2022) by Alauda Ruiz de AzAa; Mother Lode (Italy, France, Switzerland, 2021) by Matteo Tortone; Navalny (US, 2022) by Daniel Roher; Neptune Frost (Rwanda, US, 2021) by Anisia Uzeyman, Saul Williams; They Carry Death (Spain, Colombia, 2021) by Helena GirAn and Samuel M. Delgado; and Tukdam: Between Worlds (Finland, Ireland, Estonia 2022) by Donagh Coleman.

After two years of being online due to the pandemic, the 11th edition of the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) is back with a physical edition that showcases the latest and finest indie films from India and around the world.

A large contingent of filmmakers will attend DIFF to present their films, and the programme also includes masterclasses and workshops.

DIFF will be held once again at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in McLeodganj.

Festival director Ritu Sarin said: “We’re so excited to announce our line-up! As we come out of two years of Covid, we’ve had a bumper crop of amazing new films from across India and the world to select from. It’s been a really difficult challenge for our selection team to sift through so many fine films and we’ve had many long discussions and debates before deciding on the final programme.”

This year’s line-up of Indian features include: Adh Chanani Raat (Crescent Night) by Gurvinder Singh; Cannes Film Festival Golden Eye Award Winner, All That Breathes by Shaunak Sen; Dharti Latar Re Horo (Tortoise Under the Earth) by Shishir Jha; Dhuin by Achal Mishra; Dostojee by Prasun Chatterjee; Jhini Bini Chadariya (The Brittle Thread) by Ritesh Sharma; Manikbabur Megh (The Cloud and the Man) by Abhinandan Banerjee; Pedro by Natesh Hegde; Shankar’s Fairies by Irfana Majumdar; Taangh (Longing) by Bani Singh); Urf (a.k.a) by Geetika Narang Abbasi; and Watch Over Me by Farida Pacha.