This year's edition promises a diverse array of cinematic treasures that are set to captivate and inspire audiences, providing a unique platform for both established and emerging filmmakers to present their work.
In addition to the film screenings, the festival includes panel discussions and talks, providing a unique opportunity for film enthusiasts, aspiring filmmakers, and industry professionals to engage with the filmmaking process and glean insights from accomplished filmmakers.
For its 12th edition, the festival moves to the Tibetan Children’s Village in Upper Dharamshala, which allows it to expand to a total of four screens.
The on-ground edition of DIFF 2023 is scheduled to run from 4 to 7 November. However, for audiences unable to attend the physical event, a digital edition of DIFF 2023 will be available online from 8 to 14 November. The virtual edition will have a smaller lineup, featuring only those films for which DIFF has received permission for online screenings. Passes and more details will be available soon.
“This year, for the first time since we started the festival in 2012, we decided to step back from actively doing the programming ourselves. We were very fortunate that Bina Paul, an old friend and the former Artistic Director of the International Film Festival of Kerala, was happy to come on board as the Director of Programming. Bina and her team, along with ourselves, made the final selections after in-depth viewings and many discussions. The criteria, as always, is to showcase the best of independent cinema from India and around the world. We are thrilled with the final selection and can promise our audiences that they are in for a cinematic feast!” said the festival directors, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam.
DIFF 2023 Full Line-Up
92 films from 40+ countries, including 31 feature narratives, 21 feature documentaries, and 40 short films.
Feature narratives and documentaries:
Afire | Roter Himmel (Germany, 103 mins, 2023, Dir: Christian Petzold)
Against The Tide (India, France, 97 mins, 2023, Dir: Sarvnik Kaur)
All India Rank (India, 94 mins, 2023, Dir: Varun Grover)
Amar Colony (India, 75 mins, 2022, Dir: Siddharth Chauhan)
And, Towards Happy Alleys | Be Kucheye Khoshbakht (India, 75 mins, 2023, Dir: Sreemoyee Singh)
Angela Davis: A World Of Greater Freedom (Portugal, 77 mins, 2023, Dir:Manthia Diawara)
Autobiography (Indonesia, France, Singapore, Poland, Philippines, Germany, Qatar, 115 mins, | 2022, Dir: Makbul Mubarak)
Bawa’s Garden (UK, Sri Lanka, 89 mins, 2022, Dir: Clara Kraft Isono)
The Blue Caftan | Le Bleu Du Caftan (France, Morocco, Belgium, Denmark, 122 mins, 2022, Dir: Maryam Touzani)
Bottle Radha | Pāṭṭal Rātā (India, 149 mins, 2023, Dir: Dhinakaran Sivalingam)
Brothers | Bratya (Kazakhstan, 100 mins, 2022, Dir: Darkhan Tulegenov)
The Buriti Flower | Crowrã (Brazil, Portugal, 124 mins, 2023, Dir: João Salaviza and Renée Nader Messora)
Call Me Dancer (India, USA, Israel, UK, 84 mins, 2023, Dir: Leslie Shampaine and Pip Gilmour)
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Now & Then (India, 111 mins, 2023, Dir: Jyoti Nisha)
Fallen Leaves | Kuolleet Lehdet (Finland, Germany, 81 mins, 2023, Dir: Aki Kaurismäki)
Family (India, 111 mins, 2023, Dir: Don Palathara)
Follower (India, 100 mins, 2023, Dir: Harshad Nalawade)
Frybread Face And Me (USA, 83 mins, 2023, Dir: Billy Luther)
The Golden Thread | Paat Katha (Bosnia And Herzegovina, India, Netherlands, Norway, Uk, 86 mins, 2022, Dir: Nishtha Jain)
Guras (India, Nepal, 114 mins, 2023, Dir: Saurav Rai)
A Holy Family | Shén Rén Zhī Jiā (Taiwan, France, 88 mins, 2022, Dir: Elvis A-Liang Lu)
I Am Sirat (Canada, 87 mins, 2023, Dir: Deepa Mehta, Sirat Taneja)
In Our Day (South Korea, 84 mins, 2023, Dir: Hong Sangsoo)
Innocence (Denmark, Israel, Finland, Iceland, 100 mins, 2022, Dir: Guy Davidi)
Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell | Bên Trong Vỏ Kén Vàng (Vietnam, Singapore, France, Spain, 178 mins, 2023, Dir: Thien An Pham)
Joram (India, 138 mins, 2022, Dir: Devashish Makhija)
Kummatty | The Bogeyman (India, 90 mins, 1979, Dir: Aravindan Govindan)
The Lotus And The Swan (India, 71 mins, 2023 , Dir: Nirmal Chander)
Mami Wata (Nigeria, 107 mins, 2022, Dir: C.J. "Fiery" Obasi)
A Match | Sthal (India, 104 mins, 2023, Dir: Jayant Digambar Somalkar)
The Mother Of All Lies | Kadib Abyad (Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, 97 mins, 2023, Dir: Asmae El Moudir )
My Imaginary Country | Mi País Imaginario (Chile, France, 83 mins, 2022, Dir: Patricio Guzmán)
The New Boy (Australia, 116 mins, 2023, Dir: Warwick Thornton)
No Winter Holidays | Dhōrapāṭana (Nepal, 79 mins, 2023, Dir: Rajan Kathet And Sunir Pandey)
Our Film | Mhara Pichchar (India, United Kingdom, 49 mins, 2023, Dir: Dakxin Chhara)
Paradise (India, Sri Lanka, 93 mins, 2023, Dir: Prasanna Vithanage)
Perfect Days (Japan, 124 mins, 2023, Dir: Wim Wenders)
Rapture | Rimdogittanga (India, 127 mins, 2023, Dir: Dominic Megam Sangma)
Ri (India, 95 mins, 2023, Dir: Achal Mishra)
The Siren | La Sirène (France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, 99 mins, 2023, Dir: Sepideh Farsi)
Something Like a War (India, 52 mins, 1991, Dir: Deepa Dhanraj)
Songs Of Earth | Fedrelandet (Norway, 90 mins, 2023, Dir: Margreth Olin)
Sultana's Dream | El Sueño De La Sultana (Germany, Spain, 80 mins, 2023, Dir: Isabel Herguera)
Terrestrial Verses | Ayeh Haye Zamini (Iran, 78 mins, 2023, Dir: Alireza Khatami, Ali Asgari)
Theatre Of Violence (Denmark, Germany, 104 mins, 2023, Dir: Emil Langballe And Lukasz Konopa)
Tora’s Husband (India, 2022, 122 mins, Dir: Rima Das)
Which Colour? | Kayo Kayo Colour? (India, 96 mins, 2023, Dir: Shahrukhkhan Chavada)
While The Green Grass Grows (Switzerland, Canada, 166 mins, 2023, Dir: Peter Mettler)
While We Watched | Namaskar Main Ravish Kumar (India, United Kingdom, 94 mins, 2022, Dir: Vinay Shukla)
The Winter Within | Maagh (India, France, Qatar, 99 mins, 2022, Dir: Aamir Bashir)
The World Is Family | Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (India, 96 mins, 2023, Dir: Anand Patwardhan)
World War III | Jang-e jahani sevom (Iran, 52 mins, 2022, Dir: Houman Seyedi )
Shorts:
Birdsong (United Kingdom, Laos, 17 mins, 2022, Dir: Omi Zola Gupta, Sparsh Ahuja)
Chadariya (India, 25 mins, 2022, Dir: Nimisha Srivastava)
Clement Town (Taiwan, 22 mins, 2023, Dir: Li Kuei-Pi)
Coming To Terms/ Making Your Terms? | Kyaa Hai Ye Samjhauta (India, 9 mins, 2023, Dir: Hansa Thapliyal)
A Day That Year | Mǒu Tiān, Nà Nián (Singapore, Taiwan, 9 mins, 2022, Dir: Stanley Xu)
The Discoverer Of The Discoverers (Norway, 25 mins, 2022, Dir: C.S. Nicholson)
Dreams Awaken | Jaagte Khwab (India, 19 mins, 2022, Dir: Aprajita Gupta)
A Flight Of The Lost Dreamy Bird | Hare Patte Ke Rang Ki Patrangi Aur Kahin Kho Gaya Naam Ka Ladka (India, 13 mins, 2023, Dir: Chaman Ramesh Kishan)
Hello Guyzz! (India, 24 mins, 2023, Dir: Samiksha Mathur)
In Between Us (Humare Beech Mein) (India, 35 mins, 2023, Dir: Rajkumari Prajapati And Ruchika Negi)
Kulfi (India, 30 mins, 2023, Dir: Kiran Narayan Dhamale)
Last Days Of Summer (India, France, 15 mins, 2023, Dir: Stenzin Tankyong)
A Lullaby For Yellow Roses (India, 18 mins, 2023, Dir: Rahul Roye)
Malwa Khushan (India, 20 mins, 2023, Dir: Preeti Kanungo, Sourav Yadav)
The Missing Cow (India, 15 mins, 2022, Dir: Bhaskar Hazarika)
Moonless | Chandraheen (India, 24 mins, 2023, Dir: Adheep Das)
Monographs 2023 | Seven short film essays commissioned by Asian Film Archive
Morchang (India, 24 mins, 2023, Dir: Chandradeep Singh Rathore)
Mountain Man | Gangri Gi Min (Bhutan, 22 mins, 2022, Dir: Arun Bhatarai)
Nocturnal Burger | Nischachar Burger (India, Usa, 28 mins, 2023, Dir: Reema Maya)
The Old, The New And The Other (South Korea, 15 mins, 2022, Dir: Sébastien Simon)
Out Beyond (Pakistan, Usa, 5 mins, 2023, Dir: Salman Alam Khan)
The Poplar Trees (Nepal, Maldives, 9 mins, 2023, Dir: Manoj Kumar Pant)
Regard Silence | Mira El Silencio (México, 29 mins, 2022, Dir: Santiago Zermeño)
Roads | Sadak (India, 22 mins, 2022, Dir: Daanish Shastri)
The Scorpion | Vinchu (India, 17 mins, 2022, Dir: Sumedh Natu)
Shabnam (Bangladesh, United Kingdom, 22 mins, 2022, Dir: Reetu Sattar)
A Shelter | Gotho (India, 12 mins, 2023, Dir: Sainath S. Uskaikar)
Shera (India, 20 mins, 2023, Dir: Arun Fulara)
Silent Walls (Bhutan, 20 mins, 2023, Dir: Suraj Bhattarai)
The Song (United Kingdom, 22 mins, 2022, Dir: Bani Abidi)
Stay Quiet | Chupi Roh (India, 16 mins, 2023, Dir: Disha Bhardwaj)
Tam-bram Cooking (India, 9 mins, 2023, Dir: Sraiyanti H And Prem Akkattu)
Things Unheard Of | Serpêhatiyên Neqewimî (Turkey, 16 mins, 2023, Dir: Ramazan Kılıç)
Think Something Nice (Switzerland, 6 mins, 2022, Dir: Claudius Gentinetta)
This Is TMI (India, 7 mins, 2023, Dir: Subarna Dash And Vidushi Gupta)
Under One Roof | Sous Un Même Toit (China, France, 20 mins, 2023, Dir: Yu Wang)
When The Earth Rusted (India, 17 mins, 2023, Dir: Duttatreya Dey)
Windhorse (Nepal, 10 mins, 2023, Dir: Sunil Gurung)
Yellow | Rang-E-Zard (Afghanistan, Uk, 12 mins, 2023, Dir: Elham Ehsas)