NFDC's 'Island City' to be screened at DIFF

National Film Development Corporation's (NFDC) Hindi language feature "Island City" will be screened at the upcoming fourth edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) on November 8 here.

The Ruchika Oberoi directorial, which garnered appreciation at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year, features Vinay Pathak, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Amruta Subhash and Chandan Roy Sanyal in pivotal roles.

"Island City" follows three comic-dramatic stories set in Mumbai. The first one is about a middle-aged man who wins the office Fun Committee Award, which entitles him to a whole day full of fun.

The second story begins with an autocratic man whose family brings home a television set when he is critically ill and away in a hospital.

The third story centres around Aarti whose repetitive existence is slowly making her more and more mechanical and numb.

Oberoi will be present during the screening of the film. She will also be available at The New Indian Indie wave panel discussion along with filmmakers Kanu Behl, Gurvinder Singh, Abhay Kumar and Bhaskar Hazarika.

Organised by filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, the film this year will be screened at the Club house and TIPA in McLeodganj here.

"We are interested in films that deal with social issues. Last year we had a film about caste and things like that. We are interested in films like conflicting areas, we show a lot of films from middle-east that deal with Israel, Palestine, Syria, Egyptian uprising. We showcase films that can expand our awareness and knowledge of the world," Sonam told IANS.

Behl's directorial debut "Titli", which was screened at Cannes International Film Festival last year, will kickstart the four-day festival on Thursday.

In total, 37 films will be screened this year out of which 14 are Indian movies.

Some of the international filmmakers, who will be available this year, include The Maw Naing from Burma with his feature film "The Monk", Japanese director Kaoru Ikeya for the international premiere of his documentary "Lung Ta" and Bhutanese director Dechen Roder with his short film "Lo Sum Choe Sum".

Indian filmmakers attending the festival this year include National Award-winning director Gurvinder Singh with his feature film "Chauthi Koot". Bhaskar Hazarika will present the Assamese feature film "Kothanodi", which was screened at 2015 Busan International Film Festival.

"People have a perception that films dealing with social issues are boring. We try to break that perception by showcasing films that concerns the world and are considered brilliant," Sarin told IANS.

DIFF, the offbeat independent film festival, will conclude on November 8.