International Film Festival of India 2025 – Spirits high as Goa welcomes global film industry

A carnival like parade, business and load of glamour, here’s what happened at this year’s annual gathering of talent and Indian cinephiles…

By Rodrigues C

SOME 270 films from 81 different countries, 13 World Premieres, five International Premieres and 44 Asian Premieres with sections such as International Competition, Best Debut Feature Film and the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal were part of the gala at this year’s International Film Festival of India, known as IFFI.

This year’s 56th edition started with a float parade – just as in the annual carnival in the western coastal state.

Among the other sections were Macabre Dreams, Docu-Montage, Experimental Cinema, UNICEF-Supported Films and Restored Classics.

Telugu star Nandamuri Balakrishna was felicitated for completing 50 years in cinema at the opening ceremony. 


Brazilian film, ‘The Blue Trail’ which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, 2025 opened the festival.

There were also conversations with some of the country’s best-known fiillmakers and actors including master classes by festival director Shekhar Kapur, actor Aamir Khan, directors, Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Vishal Bhardwaj, actor-director Anupam Kher, and other filmmakers, Shaad Ali, Suhasini Maniratnam, Akkineni Nagarjuna, John Seale and Philip Noyce were packed sessions.

A state of the art inflatable theatre at the Kala Academy complete with 5.1 sound screened several films.

The open-air screenings at Ravindra Bhavan, Anjuna beach and Miramar beach brought together locals for films such as ‘Home Alone’, ‘The Truman Show’, ‘Manjummel Boys’ and ‘12th Fail’.

The festival honoured Guru Dutt, Raj Khosla, Ritwik Ghatak, P Bhanumathi, Bhupen Hazarika and Salil Chowdhury.

The rebranded WAVES Film Bazaar (November 20-24) did over £90 million of business and was attended by 1500 delegates from 31 countries.

There were 10 new national pavilions and 14 pavilions from Indian states. There was also $20,000 (£18,000) to ‘encourage and support emerging filmmakers’.

With record 350+ projects and Jerome Paillard, former head of the Cannes Market now being an advisor to Film Bazaar, it couldn’t get better than this.

At the opening, Jaewon Kim, a member of the National Assembly of South Korea and former K-pop singer, rendered Vande Mataram to commemorate the 150th anniversary of India’s national song.

The Co-Production Market awarded its top honour of $10,000 (£8,500) to ‘Kakthet’ directed by Stenzin Tankong; ‘Ulta (Madam)’ directed by Paromita Dhar was adjudged the second best and granted $5,000.

The Netflix Documentary Grant went to ‘Simhastha Kumbh’ directed by Amitabha Singh.

The Red Sea Fund Award of $5000 jointly went to ‘Azhi’ directed by Hessa Salih and ‘Ustad Bantoo’ directed by Arsh Jain. The Red Sea Fund Award of $2,500 was handed over to ‘The Manager’ directed by Sandeep Sreelekha.

At the closing ceremony, superstar Rajinikanth was honoured with the lifetime achievement award for completing 50 years in cinema. He was accompanied by his family at the ceremony. Actor-director Rishabh Shetty, actors Ranveer Singh, Dhanush, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Amit Sadh, and directors such as Madhur Bhandarkar, Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra, Shekhar Kapur and Ramesh Sippy of ‘Sholay’ fame were also present.

‘A Useful Ghost’, a Thai supernatural black comedy-drama by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke was screened as the closing film of the festival.

IFFI took place from November 20-28.