'The Wolfpack', 'The Monk' applauded at DIFF

American filmmaker Crystal Moselle's documentary "The Wolfpack" and Burmese filmmaker The Maw Naing's "The Monk" received an overwhelming response from the audience at the ongoing fourth edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) here on Friday.

"The Wolfpack", which was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where it won the US Documentary Grand Jury Prize, tells the story of a family that homeschools and raises their seven children in the confinement of their apartment in the Lower East Side of New York City.

The documentary not only struck the right chords with the audience, but also made them think about how difficult it is to survive in a society which looks down on you.

Interestingly, despite being a US documentary it had an Indian angle in its storyline. The seven children in the film have Indian names -- Mukunda, Narayana, Govinda, Bhagvan, Krishna, Jagadesh and Vishnu.

Meanwhile, "The Monk", which has been acclaimed and honoured at various platforms like Singapore International Film Festival 2014, Busan International Film Festival 2014 and Kolkata International Film Festival 2014, is a sensitive coming-of-age tale which revolves around Zawana, a Buddhist monk who has spent most of his life in a monastery in the Myanmar countryside.

Maw Naing, who was present at the screening, said film festivals are the only "big chance" that independent filmmakers have to show their film on a wide spectrum . He felt "honoured" to show the film to the Indian audience even before releasing it in his country.

"This is my first feature film. I've been at some of the film festivals earlier. Though I don't know much about the independent film industry, I feel honoured to screen 'The Monk' in India," Maw Naing told IANS.

"Film festivals are the only big chance and the only place to show independent films. Also, the film is yet to release in Burma. So Indians are watching it before them," he added.

Some of the other films that were screened on the second day of the four-day festival included documentaries like "Butter Lamp" (France), "Tashi and The Monk" (India), "Losum Choe Sum" (Bhutan) and "The Act of Killing" (Denmark, Norway, Britain).

The independent film festival, which started on Thursday with the screening of debut director Kanu Bahl's "Titli", will conclude on Sunday. Some of the other films that will be screened here include "Chauthi Koot", "Masaan" and "Umrika", among others.