Dharamshala film fest to launch editing workshop

The seventh edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF), in association with the Paddy & Joan Leigh Fermor Arts Fund, will launch the Dharamshala PJLF Editing Workshop 2018 to encourage editors in the independent cinema market.

It will give two teams of Director & Editor the chance to screen their film, receive feedback from a team of experienced film professionals and have two follow-up sessions working with the Editing Mentor on revising their cut and/or concentrating on particular sequences in their film, read a statement from DIFF organisers.

The Editing Workshop will be mentored by Internationally renowned editor Jacques Comets, editor and Artistic Director of the International Film Festival of Kerala Bina Paul, and producer and script and editing mentor Olivia Stewart.

A selection committee comprising Paul and filmmakers Umesh Kulkarni and Tenzing Sonam will select the two director and editor teams.

DIFF Director Ritu Sarin said: "As filmmakers ourselves, Tenzing and I have long felt the importance of providing an environment that encourages directors to work closely with their editors in a genuinely collaborative way.

"Our hope is that the workshop will not only inspire editors to give the director the benefit of an equal, qualified and experienced contribution to the final film, but will also reassure directors that editing skill is not a takeover of their vision but an asset and an opportunity to bring out the best in their film."

The two selected teams will be invited to come to Dharamshala for seven days from October 29 to November 4. The application for the editing workshop is only open to teams who are working closely together as equal collaborators on the edit of an Indian-language (including in English) feature film. The film can be at any stage between rough-cut and fine cut and should be at least 90 minutes long. Indian-language films will need to have English subtitles.

Applications are open from August 23 and the submission deadline is September 20. The two selected projects will be announced on October 8.

--IANS

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