IFFInity, A Definitive Chronicle Of IFFI's 74-Year Journey
By A Draft Correspondent
IFFInity: Cinema, Capital and India's Most Durable Festival, a new e-book by journalist, author and Editor-in-Chief of The Draft, Gajanan Khergamker, traces the remarkable evolution of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) from its inception in 1952 to its transformation into one of Asia's most significant platforms for cinema, culture and the creative economy.
Released by DraftCraft Publications, and now available in public domain, the long-form publication examines IFFI's seven-decade journey through the lenses of film, cultural diplomacy, technology, policy, restoration, artificial intelligence and global film markets, while placing the landmark 56th edition of the festival in a broader historical and institutional context.
Read the complete flipbook edition of IFFInity: Cinema, Capital and India's Most Durable Festival here: https://draftcraft.hflip.co/IFFInity-January-2026
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| The first edition of IFFInity by Gajanan Khergamker |
Spanning over seven decades of India's premier film festival, IFFInity moves beyond conventional festival reporting to present a deeply researched narrative on how IFFI evolved from a post-Independence cultural initiative into a strategic platform influencing film-making, co-productions, restoration, artificial intelligence, streaming ecosystems and international soft power.
The e-book reflects over four decades of Gajanan Khergamker's experience as a journalist, editor and legal professional. Known for his analytical long-form writing on law, public policy, governance, culture and current affairs, Khergamker brings together historical research, institutional analysis and reportage to trace the International Film Festival of India's evolution from a post-Independence cultural initiative into a significant platform for cinema, technology, diplomacy and the creative economy.
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| Gajanan Khergamker |
The opening chapters of the e-book revisit IFFI's formative decades, when cinema was deployed as a tool of cultural diplomacy by a newly independent republic.
"Films arrived not as commodities but as emissaries, carrying the intellectual climates of their nations in their frames and their silences," writes Khergamker while examining the festival's earliest years.
The publication traces how the festival subsequently distanced itself from commercial markets during the 1970s and 1980s, becoming what the author calls "the festival that refused the market", preserving artistic legitimacy while often failing to create pathways for distribution and sustainability.
As India liberalised in the 1990s, IFFInity argues that the festival struggled to keep pace with the rapidly transforming economics of cinema. "The festival spoke the language of transition while practising the continuity of an institution that had not decided what it wanted to become," the book observes.
The Goa era, beginning in 2004, is examined as a period that solved IFFI's permanence problem while continuing its search for institutional purpose. Khergamker analyses Film Bazaar, Indian Panorama, talent development initiatives and the festival's growing international footprint.
One of the publication's most distinctive chapters explores restoration economics and the monetisation of cinematic heritage. "Culture, in this framework, does not need to be protected from commerce. It needs to be structured to benefit from it," Khergamker argues while discussing restoration projects, rights management and the commercial afterlife of classic films.
The centrepiece of the publication is its extensive examination of IFFI 56, which Khergamker identifies as the edition where the festival openly acknowledged cinema's entanglement with capital, technology and policy.
"IFFI 56 will not be remembered for a single defining film or a singular critical verdict. Its significance lies in its aggregate behaviour," the book notes.
The publication also examines artificial intelligence, streaming platforms, co-production frameworks and India's ambitions to strengthen its position in global cinema governance.
In a chapter dedicated to IFFI's global significance, Khergamker argues that cinema diplomacy has acquired a new meaning in the 21st century.
"Cinema as diplomacy means the exercise of soft power through the convergence of artistic credibility, technological capability and financial infrastructure."
The publication contends that IFFI's future relevance will depend not only on programming decisions but also on policy choices involving restoration, co-productions, financing structures and cultural diplomacy.
The special edition e-book concludes with a reflection on IFFI's transformation from a film exhibition platform into an institution shaping how films are financed, preserved, distributed and understood.
As Assistant Editor Manu Shrivastava writes in the Postscript: "IFFI no longer merely exhibits films. It increasingly shapes the conditions in which they are imagined, financed, preserved and understood."
Published by DraftCraft Publications and released by The Draft, IFFInity is now available as a free public edition and marks the beginning of what is intended to become a continuing series documenting the changing relationship between cinema, culture, technology and public policy in India.
The e-book comprises:
Foreword: The Festival That Refused To Stay Still
Chapter 1 - 1952 to 1969: When The Republic Discovered Cinema As Diplomacy
Chapter 2 - 1970 to 1989: The Festival That Refused The Market
Chapter 3 - 1990 to 2003: Liberalisation Outside, Hesitation Inside
Chapter 4 - 2004 to 2024: Goa, Permanence And The Long Search For Purpose
Chapter 5 - Remastering, Memory And Monetisation
Chapter 6 - IFFI 56: When Cinema Stopped Pretending It Was Only About Cinema
Chapter 7 - IFFI On The Global Stage
Chapter 8 - Beyond 2025: The Future Of IFFI And Indian Cinema
Chapter 9 - How PIB Keeps India's Premier Festival In Focus
Postscript: The Peacock Has Not Finished Dancing
Click here to view the flipbook.
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