Special Correspondent
Panaji
Backed by a spectacular parade celebrating India’s rich cinematic legacy, the curtains will rise on the 56th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on Thursday (November 20) in the city.
The inaugural function of the film festival will have the presence of Governor P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
Sawant accompanied by ESG officials inspected the IFFI inaugural venue Wednesday evening. He said it would be most innovative inaugural ceremony and would be open to all.
The opening of the mega film fest will witness a grand parade from Entertainment Society of Goa office to Kala Academy, beginning at 4 pm. It will showcase tableaux from production houses and different states including Andhra Pradesh and Haryana. Cultural troupes will exhibit Indian culture, tradition and ethos.
The procession will be followed by breathtaking creations from India’s iconic studios and NFDC’s evocative 50-year tribute.
‘Bharat ek Soor’ with a hundred folk artists will weave dances from every corner of the nation into one soaring rhythm.
The colourful parade will have 34 floats among which 12 have been arranged by the state government.
Over 270 films from 84 countries will be screened at IFFI 2025, including 26 world premieres, 48 Asia premieres, and 99 premieres from India.
Five Goan films will be shown under a special section.
In addition, open air screenings will be organised at Miramar beach and open space at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, besides in Ponda and on Vagator beach.
This year, IFFI’s Country Focus is Japan, with special curated packages from Spain and Australia. The festival will also celebrate centenary tributes to legendary Indian cinema icons such as Guru Dutt, Raj Khosla, Ritwik Ghatak, P Bhanumathi, Bhupen Hazarika, and Salil Chowdhury.
The noted actor Rajinikanth will be honoured during the closing ceremony of the nine-day event on November 28 for completing 50 years in cinema. His movie ‘Lala Salaam’ will also be shown at the festival.
The celebrated cinematographer from Goa K Vaikunth will be posthumously honoured at the festival.
Organisers will also hold ‘Creative Minds of Tomorrow initiative’, with 124 young creators selected from 799 entries through a highly competitive process.
Meanwhile, the 19th edition of the WAVES Film Bazaar will unlock co-production and market opportunities for a large number of film projects from India and abroad, with a dedicated Tech Pavilion to explore cutting-edge technologies like AI, VFX, and CGI.
The festival will open with the 2025 dystopian drama film ‘The Blue Trail’ by Gabriel Mascaro.
The Indian Panorama section of the film festival will feature 25 feature films, 20 non-feature films and five debut features.
The event will present over 50 films by women directors. In addition, 21 Oscar entries and over 50 works of debut filmmakers would be screened.
Furthermore, top award winning films from the world’s top film festivals would also be shown to the festival delegates.
The 21 Masterclasses and In-Conversation sections will feature film legends and industry leaders including Aamir Khan, Anupam Kher, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Muzaffar Ali, Christopher Corbould, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Khushbu Sundar and Sreekar Prasad, among others.
Topics will range from acting and editing to VFX, cinematography, and the CinemAI Hackathon, exploring the future of AI in filmmaking.
