The 55th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has unveiled its main competition slate, which includes 15 films vying for the Golden Peacock Award with prizes worth INR 4 million ($47,000), and notably includes nine films directed by women.
Among the world premieres are the Iranian drama Fear and Trembling by Menejeh Hekmat and Faez Azizkhani, which explores an elderly woman’s struggle with isolation, and Nikhil Mahajan’s Rafsaheb, an Indian crime thriller that deals with human-animal conflict in tribal lands.
The list includes festival highlights such as Louise Courvoisier’s “Sacred Cow” (France), which won the Youth Un Certain Regard award at Cannes 2024, and Sauli Pliuvaiti’s “Toxic” (Lithuania), winner of the Golden Leopard Award at Locarno 2024. Romanian revolution drama The New Year That Never Came arrives fresh from winning both the Horizons and FIPRESCI Awards in Venice.
The lineup also includes “Gulizar” by Bilkis Bayrak (Turkey), which screened in Toronto and San Sebastian, and “Panopticon” by George Sikharulidze (Georgia-USA), which received a special mention from the Ecumenical Jury in Karlovy Vary. Singaporean Nelicia Lo won the Best Director award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival for her psychological thriller “Pierce”, which is also in competition in Goa.
The Indian unit is screening Plessy’s ‘The Goat Life’, an adaptation of the best-selling novel ‘Aadujeevitham’, and Aditya Suhas Jambhal’s political thriller ‘Article 370’.
Other international entries include “I Am Nevenka” by Issar Bollin (Spain), which won the Euskadi Prize for Basque Music in San Sebastian, “The Red Road” by Lotfi Achour (Tunisia), and “The Shepherds” which won the Toronto Prize by Sophie Derasbia (Canada-France). And Jerry. Czech Oscar winner “Waves” by Madel, and Meriem Jobor’s Berlin premiere of “Who I Belong To” (Tunisia-Canada).
Veteran Indian director Ashutosh Gowariker (Lagaan, Swades) chairs the jury, and is joined by Singaporean director Anthony Chen (Camera d’Or winner at Cannes for Ilo Ilo) and British-American producer Elizabeth Carlsen (Carol). “The Crying Game”), Spanish producer Fran Borgia (“A Land Imagined,” “Stranger Eyes”), and Australian editor Jill Billcock (“Moulin Rouge!”, “Romeo + Juliet”).
The festival will be held from November 20 to 28 in Goa, India, where awards will be presented for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Male), Best Actor (Female) and a Special Jury Prize.