IFFI 2026 To Showcase 235 Films From India And Abroad, ‘Fatherland’ To Open Festival

The 57th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will showcase 235 films, including 159 international entries from 86 countries and 76 Indian films, with acclaimed Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski’s ‘Fatherland’ selected as the opening film.

The festival, scheduled to be held in Goa from November 20 to 28, will conclude with Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen’s ‘We Are All Strangers’, festival director Ashutosh Gowariker announced at a press conference on Friday.

‘Fatherland’, which earned Pawlikowski the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival, completes his trilogy of historical stories. The festival received around 1,400 film entries from 137 countries, with the final selection featuring nine world premieres, two international premieres, 24 Asia premieres and 116 India premieres.

Aditya Dhar’s spy thriller ‘Dhurandhar’, starring Ranveer Singh, will open the Indian Panorama feature film segment, while ‘Becoming’ will be the opening film in the non-feature category. The section will screen 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films selected from over 700 entries.

The international competition will feature 15 films, while seven entries will compete in the Best Debut Feature Film category. Filmmaker Aanand L Rai will chair the international competition jury. The Golden Peacock winner for Best Film will receive a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh.

Russia will be the partner country, while Spain will be the country of honour. The festival will also mark the centenary of Polish filmmaker Andrej Wajda with screenings of five of his films.

This year's edition will feature works by 52 women filmmakers and 62 debut filmmakers. Two new categories, 'Films About Films' and 'Animation', have also been introduced.

Organised under the theme 'Stories Without Borders', IFFI will also hold a special screening of Gowariker's ‘Lagaan’ to mark 25 years of the film.