In the run-up to its eighth edition, the Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) ran into a roadblock. The expected funds weren’t forthcoming: not unusual for an independent cinema showcase that is uncompromising in its vision, pretty much like the films it celebrates. The response that the prospect of cancellation prompted was, however, anything but usual.
DIFF 2019 nearly did not happen. In September, with sources of funding drying up, festival directors Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, a filmmaking couple who envisaged the annual event as a gift of gratitude to the people of the. . .
