Busan prize winner "Birds in the Dark" to close Dharamshala festival
Shashank Walia's debut feature, Birds in the Dark, will close the 15th Dharamshala International Film Festival, with its India premiere in the closing slot, Variety reported on 29 October 2026.
The film is about a call centre executive whom a police informer mistakes for a suspect. It won two prizes at the Busan International Film Festival earlier this month, before its Indian screenings were set.
The Dharamshala festival runs from 29 October to 1 November at the Tibetan Children's Village in Upper Dharamshala. Rima Das' Not a Hero will open it with a South Asia premiere. The festival was launched in 2012 by filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, and Bina Paul is its director of programming.
The shorts section includes several debuts and premieres. Aastha Tiku's Dreamboat has its world premiere there. Varun Grover's Damned and Arun Fulara's Hudke ki Pyaang Pyaang are also in the programme. Damned follows a social-media influencer who goes looking for Naseem Bano, a folk singer who has been forgotten. The festival's own listing gives Damned the title Kambakhat.
Several features were added to the lineup late. Mehrdad Oskouei's A Fox Under a Pink Moon, made with Afghan artist Soraya Akhlaghi, is among them, as is Paromita Vohra's Working Girls. Yashasvi Juyal's The Ink Stained Hand and The Missing Thumb gets a South Asia premiere. Ridham Janve's Hunter's Moon is set in the Upper Dhauladhar range. Shaunak Sen's Termite has its Asia premiere, and Gurvinder Singh's Rehmat has its India premiere.
The festival's listing also gives Birds in the Dark a Hindi title, Hanere De Panchi. The festival is also touring the country with free screenings of its Best of DIFF selection at the Odd Bird Theatre, according to its website.
For a film that has already been honoured in Busan, a closing night in Dharamshala is another stop on the festival circuit. Each stop puts the film in front of a new audience, and new people in the industry, before it reaches ordinary cinemas.
