11th Dharamshala International Film Festival collaborates with inflatable theatre company PictureTime

After a pandemic-induced gap of two years, Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) is collaborating with the inflatable theatre company to host its latest physical edition in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Picturetime is a one-of-its-kind mobile theatre company bringing cinematic cheer to the farthest corners of India. This year, two of Its state-of-the-art inflatable digital cinemas will serve as screening venues at the 11th edition of DIFF. They have also provided the audio-visual equipment to the newly built auditorium at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), McLeod Ganj, where DIFF is held.

The physical edition of the festival will take place from November 3 to November 6, 2022 at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA), McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala.

The 11th edition of the Dharamshala International Film Festival will screen the best of world and Indian independent cinema. The festival along with Picturetime will host an excellent lineup of features, documentaries and short films, including the Indian premieres of Saim Saqid’s Cannes Jury Prize winner "Joyland', Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s stunning third feature 'Once Upon A Time In Calcutta', 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', Jason Loftus’s 'Eternal Spring', Gianfranco Rosi’s 'In Viaggio' and more.

Other highlights include Shaunak Sen’s Cannes Golden Eye winner 'All That Breathes', Chinese filmmaker Qiu Jiongjiong’s Jiao Ma Tang Hui (A New Old Play), Gurvinder Singh’s Adh Chanani Raat and more. The festival will also host talks, masterclasses and interactive sessions.

Talking about his association with DIFF, Sushil Chaudhary, Founder & CEO, Picturetime Digiplex, said, “A good film festival requires good technology to do justice to the cinematic experience. When we first associated with DIFF, the idea was to add value by bringing the best digital facilities. We have fulfilled this mission over five wonderful years so far. This year, too, we are adding value by making new changes to the cinema theatres in the sound, visual and seating systems. I hope festival-goers will enjoy this brand new experience we have created with DIFF.”

Festival director Ritu Sarin said, “Before we teamed up with Picturetime in 2018, we had no way of showing DCPs, the preferred digital screening format internationally. Our partnership with Picturetime helped us to overcome that technical hurdle. Picturetime's state-of-the-art digital facilities and its knowledgeable technical team have really helped DIFF move to the next level. This year, we’re more excited than ever because we’re adding a second Picturetime mobile digital cinema, and expanding even further our capacity to screen films at the highest quality.”