Filmmaker Ruchika Oberoi's "Island City" and Gurvinder Singh's "Chauthi Koot", which have been honoured at various international film festivals, saw packed houses at the fourth Dharamshala International Film Festival (DIFF) here on Sunday.
Both films gave an inside view of the lives of people from different religions and showed what circumstances they have to go through to find peace in their lives.
"Island City", which got Oberoi the FEDEORA Award for Best Debut Director at the Venice Film Festival 2015 earlier this year, is a three-part anthology which uses drama and comedy to describe a Mumbai replete with emptiness and alienation.
Meanwhile, Singh's "Chauthi Koot", which is set against the backdrop of Punjab of 1984, evokes the atmosphere of suspicion, fear and paranoia of the era.
The film had its premiere at big festivals like the Cannes International Film Festival 2015, Munich Film Fest 2015 and Rio De Janeiro Film Festival 2015 among others.
During the screenings, "Island City" and "Chauthi Koot", despite being Indian films, managed to connect with the foreign audience, especially international independent filmmakers.
Some of the other Indian films screened at the four-day independent film festival till now include Abhay Kumar's "Placebo", Kanu Behl's "Titli", Prashant Nair's "Umrika" and Bhaskar Hazarika's "Kothanodi".
