Delhi should have its own film industry: Tigmanshu Dhulia

The 45-year-old, who recently impressed many with his acting skills in "Gangs Of Wasseypur I and II", studied filming in Delhi for four years and the director says if it was not for this city he wouldn't have become a filmmaker.

"It's fine that the festival is Delhi's first one but the most important thing is that it will bring opportunities to a lot of youngsters here. Studying in Delhi opened a lot of avenues for me and it is sad that people with talent over here are not recognised.

"I think Delhi should have its own film industry. Mumbai is not even located in a Hindi-speaking state, still we make films there, then why not here?" Dhulia said.

DIFF will be held December 21-27 with more than 70 countries participating and at least 150 films being shown.

Legendary filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan is the chairman of the advisory board of the festival while director Anurag Kashyap, actor Yashpal Sharma, Shiney Ahuja, Shriram Raghavan, Shonali Bose are part of the panel.

Shiney said he wanted to be a part of DIFF because he understands the value of film fests as his first movie "Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi" gained popularity because of such a festival.

"My debut film got noticed because it was chosen by many film festivals and from there it got commercial success. Such fests are very important as they give way for new talent. Also Delhi is very special to me as I did my college and schooling here," the "Gangster" star said.

DIFF will also honour 100-year-old actress Zohra Sehgal with the life time achievement award.

Organisations that have partnered with the festival are Broadway International Film Festival LA, JMT from Israel, Media Box Bangladesh, Turkish Film Industry, Film Factory China and Slade school of fine arts London.

Some of the films to be screened at the festival are "Daughters of Theatre", "The Artist", "Love Birds" and "Sunshine In The Corner".