IFFI Flexes India’s Cinematic Muscle In The Global Arena
By Gajanan Khergamker
Each November, Goa assumes the role of cultural crucible — its sun-drenched promenades and colonial edifices transforming into a theatre for cinematic diplomacy. The 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI 2025) distinguishes itself from its predecessors not by grandeur alone, but by its recalibrated purpose. What began decades ago as a cinematic showcase has, through successive reinventions, evolved into a barometer of India’s creative policy — and this year, the needle points decisively towards consolidation, inclusion, and digital convergence.
The last few editions of IFFI, particularly from 2019 onwards, reflected a transitional phase. IFFI 50 marked its “Golden Jubilee” with an air of nostalgia — a celebration of legacy. The 2021 edition, held amid post-pandemic uncertainties, focused on resilience, shifting reluctantly to hybrid screenings and digital showcases. IFFI 54 (2023) began cautiously integrating technology, experimenting with virtual reality and regional collaborations, while IFFI 55 (2024) emphasised India’s soft power diplomacy, inviting global delegates under the umbrella of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
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| Image for representational purpose only |
IFFI 56, however, represents the first true institutional response to the creative economy — not merely a festival, but a state-backed policy engine. The difference lies not in scale, but in system.
Unlike its earlier editions that sought to represent Indian cinema to the world, IFFI 56 repositions India within the world’s cinematic hierarchy. The festival now aligns explicitly with national economic priorities — creative industries, startups, and digital entrepreneurship. It’s a rare instance where a film festival becomes a policy pilot, reflecting the Government of India’s recognition of culture as a capital asset.
Previous editions were marked by ceremonial expansion — more films, more delegates, more glamour. This year, the expansion is administrative. The Steering Committee’s growth from 16 to 31 members — now a convergence of artistic luminaries and corporate stakeholders — is emblematic of governance in the digital age. The inclusion of OTT giants such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Sony Pictures Network within the decision-making core is a radical departure from the celluloid nostalgia of earlier editions.
Where IFFI 55 courted global attention through celebrity, IFFI 56 courts sustainability through system. It brings the digital disruptors into the policymaking room — effectively bridging the gap between storytelling and streaming, between artistry and analytics.
The metamorphosis of the Film Bazaar into WAVES may well be IFFI 56’s most strategic intervention. Earlier editions of the Bazaar functioned as networking nodes but largely remained isolated from the festival’s thematic pulse. WAVES, however, integrates commerce with creativity. Its rebranding signals intent — to transform India from a film-producing nation into a content-exporting powerhouse.
By aligning with Screen International and embedding structured spaces such as the Work-in-Progress Lab and the Screenwriters’ Lab within a policy-backed framework, WAVES introduces coherence where chaos once reigned. Its inclusion of OTT partners and financiers ensures that films no longer die in festival corridors but find pathways to monetisation.
Compared to IFFI 53’s experimental market model, WAVES marks a matured synthesis — one that recognises that cinema, without market viability, risks creative irrelevance.
IFFI’s Creative Minds of Tomorrow (CMOT), launched in 2020 as a modest talent incubator, has now grown into a national recruitment platform for the creative economy. From a few dozen participants to a hundred curated young creators across 13 crafts in CMOT 5.0, the scale-up underscores a clear evolution — from showcasing youth to systematising it.
In earlier editions, youth inclusion was symbolic; at IFFI 56, it is structural. The government’s active involvement — from selection to mentorship — reflects a shift towards talent governance. Moreover, the inclusion of technology-driven disciplines such as VFX, AR, and VR positions Indian youth as not just filmmakers but as digital creators of the metaverse era.
IFFI’s commitment to inclusivity has often surfaced sporadically in the past — a panel discussion here, a sign-language segment there. IFFI 56, however, institutionalises accessibility as governance. The Cinema for All initiative, complete with live interpretation, ISL-enabled screenings, and technological integration through Qube Cinema and the MovieBuff Access App, transforms what was once performative inclusivity into operational reform.
This evolution mirrors global trends — the Berlinale and Sundance have long embedded accessibility into their structures — but India’s move to replicate this within a state-backed festival is unprecedented. Compared to IFFI 55, where accessibility remained peripheral, IFFI 56 ensures it becomes inseparable from exhibition infrastructure.
Earlier editions of IFFI treated knowledge sessions as ornamental — peripheral add-ons to screenings and red carpets. IFFI 56, by contrast, redefines them as its intellectual core. By framing dialogues on AI, global co-productions, and digital transformation with voices like Shekhar Kapur, Tricia Tuttle, and Pete Draper, the festival transitions from a celebratory to a reflective space. It positions India not merely as a venue but as a participant in the philosophical debate over cinema’s digital destiny.
If IFFI 55 was about India in the world, IFFI 56 is about the world in India. The former courted presence; the latter commands participation. It is the difference between a host and a hub.
By waiving Indian Panorama entry fees, the festival achieves what decades of rhetoric couldn’t — the democratisation of creative access. Regional filmmakers, long priced out of participation, are now equal stakeholders in national cinema. This policy shift is as political as it is cultural — a tacit recognition that creative diversity, when institutionalised, becomes a form of soft power.
The 56th edition, thus, does not merely build upon its predecessors — it redefines them in retrospect. What was once an event of cinematic celebration has evolved into an ecosystem of cultural strategy.
In Goa this November, as the Mandovi reflects not just the glow of projectors but the shimmer of policy ambition, the world will witness more than films. It will see India’s cinematic powerplay — where art meets administration, where policy births performance, and where a festival, fifty-six years in the making, finally becomes an instrument of global influence.
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