The best of the ‘Dharamshala International Film Festival 2013’ will once again be screened at the India International Centre (IIC) this week. As part of one of DIFF’s goals to conduct special outreach programmes to showcase the best of independent cinema for various communities to engage in, it has teamed up with the IIC to screen festival favourites from the last edition of DIFF.
From today, (September 9) the event kick-starts with Siddharth, directed by Richie Mehta. After sending away his 12-year-old son Siddharth for work, Mahendra (a chain-wallah who fixes broken zippers on the streets) is relieved that his financial burdens will be alleviated. But when Siddharth fails to return home, Mahendra learns he may have been kidnapped by child-traffickers.
Almost after five days, the second film of the film festival – Amit Virmani’s Menstrual Man will be screened on September 15. The film revolves around Muruganantham, a school dropout who realised that the majority of women in India are unable to afford sanitary pads and decides to do something about it. Menstrual Man tells the inspiring story of a man who rose from below the poverty line to make a difference to the lives of others.
On September 16, English film by Maximón Monihan, La Voz De Los Silenciados will be screened. Inspired by a real-life New York story, the film follows Olga, a hearing impaired teenager from Central America. Lured to New York City under the false promise of attending a Christian sign language school, she finds herself a slave to an international crime syndicate. Forced to sell ‘I am deaf’ trinkets on the subway, Olga is trapped inside a nightmare that will not end.
Spanish film MAPA, directed by León Siminiani, to be screened on September 18, explores the line between documentary and fiction. It 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.
Roots, a Japanese film, directed by Kaoru Ikeya, will be screened on September 19. It is story of Naoshi, a stubborn old man, who cherishes the dream and desire to rebuild his home where the entire community was affected by the devastating tsunami.
The film festival will end with The Act of Killing which will be screened on September 22. The documentary is a journey into the memories and imaginations of the perpetrators, offering insight into the minds of mass killers. It presents the banal culture of impunity in which killers joke about crimes against humanity on television chat shows, and celebrate moral disaster with the ease and grace of a soft shoe dance number.
The films will be screened at IIC from 6.30 pm onwards. Entry is free.
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