The Himachal International Film & Art Festival (HIFAF) is returning to Manali in December 2026, bringing three days of independent films, revived classics, live music, theatre, exhibitions, poetry, storytelling and hands-on workshops to the hills. The festival also takes cinema beyond its main venue through screenings in Himachal villages, while its festival spaces include a 360-degree screen, amphitheatre, Kathkuni workshop halls, open-air jamming areas and spaces for photography and architecture exhibitions. HIFAF is currently also inviting volunteers to join its 2026 edition.
The Himachal International Film & Art Festival (HIFAF) is heading back to Manali this December for its third edition, with the festival now looking to grow beyond its three-day format into a larger cultural platform for cinema, art and community. HIFAF brings filmmakers, writers, performers, designers, musicians and audiences together in the hills, with programming that moves across films, music, theatre, exhibitions, workshops and conversations. The 2026 edition is part of a larger expansion announced by founder Raja Singh Malhotra, who has partnered with Qala and Oriole Entertainment with plans to take HIFAF beyond a single annual festival and create a wider network of cultural events across India. HIFAF 3.0 is confirmed for Manali this winter, with organisers promising a new venue and an expanded format.
Cinema remains at the centre of HIFAF, with the festival making room for narrative features, documentaries, experimental shorts, animation and revived classics. Its 2025 edition screened films including Mirch Masala, Guide and Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda, alongside newer independent films, while filmmakers and actors including Ketan Mehta, Deepti Naval, Raghuveer Yadav, Pratibha Ranta and Saqib Ayub were part of the programme. The rest of the festival spreads across music from Himachal and the independent scene, theatre, poetry, storytelling, photography and architecture exhibitions, with spaces including a 360-degree screen, mini theatre, amphitheatre, traditional Kathkuni halls, an open-air People Ka Pedh and bonfire and jamming areas.
A big part of HIFAF is also about getting people to make things themselves. Its workshop programme has covered everything from pottery and mud sculpture to movement and voice, costume design for cinema, body and breath work and creative practice for people who may not consider themselves artists. The festival’s Village Outreach Programme takes this idea beyond the main venue, bringing two-day open-air film screenings to villages with limited access to cinemas and creating space for children, elders and local communities to discuss the films afterwards. In 2025, more than 350 students took part in mobile filmmaking workshops, while children also experimented with creative sculpting and other forms of making.
For HIFAF 2026, the organisers are expanding this mix while continuing to position the festival as a space for independent voices, local artists and audiences to meet. The festival’s larger plans include connecting Himachal’s creative community with artists and cultural practitioners from across the country, while developing a year-round cultural circuit beyond the main Manali gathering. And if you want to be part of the festival from the inside, HIFAF has put out an open call for volunteers as it prepares for the December edition.
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