Nandita Das' directorial debut "Firaaq" is going places even before its commercial release. Prior to its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Sep 5, the film will be screened at the Telluride Film Festival (TFF) in North America.

A Percept Picture Company (PPC) production, "Firaaq", based on the 2002 Godhra incident in Gujarat, is the only Indian entry in 35th edition of the TFF that kick started Friday. The three-day festival will conclude Sep 1.

"There could not have been a better place for me to start my journey of showing the film. TFF is an intimate film lovers' festival and here I will know how it resonates with the audiences, " said Nandita in a press statement.

"The bar is very high here, with the likes of Mike Leigh and David Fincher showing their films and also films that were awarded in Cannes. So, in many ways this is a good beginning to the litmus test, " she added.

The film, set for an October release in India, has a range of actors including Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Deepti Naval, Raghubir Yadav, Sanjay Suri and Tisca Chopra. New talents Shahana Goswami and Nowaz will also be seen in the film.

Indian-British novelist Salman Rushdie will introduce the film at all the screenings and will also be in conversation with Nandita in a question and answer session.