Fifteen Films to Compete for Golden Peacock at IFFI 2025
By Manu Shrivastava
Mumbai witnessed a surge of cinematic anticipation as the 56th International Film Festival of India announced its illustrious International Competition line-up, a meticulously curated selection of fifteen feature films - twelve from across the globe and three from India - poised to represent the pinnacle of contemporary cinema.
At the heart of this celebration is the coveted Golden Peacock, an accolade synonymous with artistic excellence, to be decided by an international jury chaired by the eminent filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.
Alongside him, Graeme Clifford from Australia, German actor Katharina Schüttler, Sri Lankan filmmaker Chandran Rutnam, and English cinematographer Remi Adefarasin bring a wealth of experience and vision to the deliberations. The winner will walk away with ₹40 lakh, while additional awards for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and a Special Jury Prize will take the total prize money to ₹90 lakh.
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| Tamil war biopic 'Amaran' is the opening film for the Indian Panorama section |
The cinematic journey begins with Amrum, a German-Turkish wartime odyssey by Fatih Akin, tracing a young boy’s confrontation with identity, ideology, and innocence amid WWII’s final shadows.
Colombia’s Cannes-acclaimed A Poet (Un Poeta) by Simón Mesa Soto balances the absurdity of artistic pursuit with the poignancy of mentorship, while Diane Kurys’ C’est Si Bon (Moi qui t’aimais) offers a tender, politically infused portrait of enduring love.
Slovenia debuts on this stage with Little Trouble Girls (Kaj ti je deklica), chronicling adolescent awakening in an all-girls choir retreat, and Italy’s Mosquitoes (Le bambine) captures the chaotic joy of growing up amid 1990s societal flux.
Johanna Moder’s Mothers Baby examines modern motherhood through psychological tension, while Nigeria makes its Cannes first with My Father’s Shadow, a political and familial odyssey set against the 1993 Lagos elections.
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| 'Renoir' poster |
Farida Baqi’s The Visual Feminist Manifesto stands out as a cinematic clarion call, a work that dares to interrogate conventions while celebrating the transformative power of self-discovery. Every frame pulses with defiance, urging viewers to confront boundaries, question entrenched norms, and witness the quiet revolutions of individual courage.
In dialogue with this global perspective, India’s own entries offer equally compelling journeys, though each rooted in very different landscapes of experience. Amaran (The Immortal) pays homage to military valor, weaving tales of courage, duty, and sacrifice into a creation that evokes both national pride and personal resolve. It has been chosen as the opening film for the Indian Panorama section at International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2025 and has earned a nomination for the prestigious Golden Peacock Award.
Sarkeet (A Short Trip), meanwhile, turns the lens toward the intimate fissures of family life abroad, capturing the delicate, sometimes fragile, emotional threads that bind kin across continents. Filmed entirely in the Gulf, it deftly balances the intimacies of family life, migrant dilemmas and the unexpected bonds that form in far‑flung lands, and arrives at the festival as a reflective counter‑voice to big spectacle.
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| A still from 'Gondhal' |
Directed by Santosh Davakhar, an IIM graduate turned FTII filmmaker, the film is about how, Suman, forced into a gilded marriage with a wealthy man, is drawn toward a Gondhali performer, Saheba, and manipulates a jealous cousin into murder during the drum‑beat tempest of a midnight ritual.
Together, these three films offer a rich spectrum, from the heroic and national to the intimate migrant story, to the mythic rural ritual. They stand as diverse entries from India, each rooted in its milieu, yet speaking to the festival’s global search for stories that matter.
Across continents, languages, and genres, the IFFI 2025 International Competition promises a feast of cinematic voices, a celebration of imagination unbound, and storytelling that transcends borders, honouring the myriad ways humanity, history, and artistry intertwine on screen.
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