Delhi ready to host first DIFF

After getting the glimpse of Arab and Asian cinema at the Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival, the Indian capital is set to host Delhi International Film Festival (DIFF) from December 21-27.

As many as 150 films from across 70 countries including France, Britain and Brazil will be showcased during the week-long festival, that will be held at Siri Fort Auditorium and NDMC Convention Centre.

“In my point of view, the DIFF is not just the festival of films. It is the vision of bringing the world together at a universal platform, far away from the lines of controls and boundaries that mankind has created,” said Suresh K. Goswami, the festival director.

“Moreover, Delhi is rich in terms of culture and heritage, but unfortunately it doesn’t have its own platform to showcase creativity and that is the reason why we wanted to have our own international film festival here,” he added.

Classics from overseas and India will also be showcased across 10 sections, including Delhi Scope section in the festival. The Retrospective, Tributes and Homage section will include films of Dev Anand, Balraj Sahni and other legendary filmmakers and actors.

The World Cinema section will showcase films like “Daughters of Hill” by Patrizia Landi, “The Artist” by Michel Hazanavicius, “Jeremiah” by Eran Paz, “Love Bird” by Susan Collins, “The Sunshine in The Corner” by Sun Hao Young, “Mar” by Caner Erzincan among others. It will also include seminars and workshops.

The festival has a special section called NRI Cinema, under which 15 films by non-resident Indians living in different parts of the world will be showcased. Another section is dedicated to the NRI writers. DIFF will also have an art exhibition.

“With a festival like this young and aspiring filmmakers across the country will benefit a lot,” said filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia.

Adds Shiney Ahuja, “Film festivals are great medium for aspiring filmmakers to come and showcase their talent and eventually they get a lot of publicity without any extra expense. And that publicity helps for the mainstream release in a big way.”