Director Anurag Kashyap, writer Varun Grover and Oscar-nominated documentary filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh will be participating in the masterclasses and panel discussions at the upcoming Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF).

The movie gala will be held from November 3 to 6 at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamshala.

A total of 80 films from 32 countries — including 21 feature narratives, 16 feature documentaries and 43 short films — will be screened during the physical edition of the festival.

Kashyap, known for directing critical hits Gulaal, Udaan, Gangs of Wasseypur series and Ugly, will be sharing his experience and his journey as a filmmaker in a session titled Adventures in the Film Trade.

Grover will be conducting masterclass The Art of Screenwriting, as a part of which he will explore what it takes to become a good writer.

Thomas and Ghosh will talk about the challenges they faced while making their Academy Award nominated documentary feature Writing with Fire. The session, Indian Documentaries in the Global Spotlight, will be moderated by Aseem Chhabra.

Film critic Namrata Joshi will be moderating a panel discussion with three young filmmakers with roots in Darbhanga — Achal Mishra (Dhuin), Parth Saurabh (Pokhar Ke Dunu Paar) and Shishir Jha (Dharti Latar Re Horo), whose films will be screened at DIFF.

Some of the highlights of the festival are India premieres of Cannes jury prize winner Joyland, a Pakistani film by Saim Sadiq; National award-winning filmmaker Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s Bengali feature film Once Upon A Time in Calcutta and Ajitpal Singh’s Fire in the Mountains.

The line-up also includes Cannes Film Festival Golden Eye Award winner All That Breathes by Shaunak Sen, Jhini Bini Chadariya (The Brittle Thread) by Ritesh Sharma and Shankar’s Fairies by Irfana Majumdar.

For audiences who cannot attend the physical edition of DIFF this year, a digital edition of DIFF 2022 will go online from November 7 to 13 with a truncated line-up.