Pawlikowski's 'Fatherland' to Open 57th IFFI in Goa

By Daniel Okafor

Paweł Pawlikowski's "Fatherland," fresh from winning him the best director prize at Cannes this year, will open the 57th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), running Nov. 20-28 in Goa. The festival fielded more than 1,900 submissions from 137 countries and will screen over 150 international films from 86 nations. Not bad for a week at the beach.

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant unveiled the program at a curtain-raiser press conference, joined by festival director Ashutosh Gowariker, the filmmaker behind "Lagaan." Nitesh Tiwari's "Ramayana: Rise of a Legend" opens the BRICS showcase. Aditya Dhar's Bollywood feature "Dhurandhar" opens the Indian Panorama.

"Fatherland" is set in 1949 and follows Nobel laureate Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika through a Germany split by the aftermath of war. The Poland, Germany, Italy and France co-production plays in German, English, French and Russian.

What anchors the program?

Alina Șerban's "I Matter," a Romania, Germany and Belgium co-production in Romanian and Romani, serves as the mid-fest film. Anthony Chen's Singaporean comedy-drama "We Are All Strangers," in Mandarin and English, closes the festival.

Chanchal Kumar, secretary of India's Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on this year's theme, "Stories Without Borders": "The stories may have an address, but emotions have no borders."

The BRICS section features work from all 11 member nations plus partner countries, including Jessica Beshir's "Faya Dayi" and Anastasia Kuzina's "Bo Bo."

Spain arrives as country of honor with four films:

• Pedro Almodóvar's "Bitter Christmas"
• Jaime Lorente's "The Bad Son"
• Laura Alvea and José Ortuño's "Trinidad"
• Juana Macías' "Looking for Michael"

Russia's partner-country showcase pairs "Bo Bo" with Nikita Grushin's "New Home," Raul Geidarov's "Sidney Lumet's Birthday" and Gerbert Rappaport's musical "Cheryomushki."

How big is the Indian slate?

The festival will screen 76 Indian films across 18 languages. Indian Panorama selectors weighed 404 feature and 358 non-feature submissions, while the best web series (OTT) category drew 46 eligible entries. Leena Yadav's Ladakhi-language "Becoming" opens the non-feature strand. Madhur Bhandarkar chairs the feature jury; Himanshu Shekhar Khatua heads the non-feature jury.

Aanand L. Rai ("Raanjhanaa," "Tanu Weds Manu") chairs the international competition jury, joined by Argentine filmmaker Sol Berruezo Pichon-Riviere; Thai writer-director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, whose "A Useful Ghost" won the 2025 Cannes Critics' Week grand prize; Colombian sound designer María Alejandra Rojas; and Romanian writer-director Bogdan Mureșanu ("The New Year That Never Came").

The Cinema of the World section includes Kore-eda Hirokazu's "Look Back," Kurosawa Kiyoshi's "The Samurai and the Prisoner," Lukas Dhont's "Coward," Nishikawa Miwa's "Children Untold," Gábor Reisz's "Ground Floor" and Wim Wenders' "From Inside Out – The Architecture of Peter Zumthor." From Festivals Worldwide gathers Hong Sang-soo's "Nowhere to Lay My Eyes," Emin Alper's "Salvation," Valeska Grisebach's "The Dreamed Adventure" and Grant Gee's "Everybody Digs Bill Evans."

Two sections are new, with five films each. Animation includes Brad Bird's "Ray Gunn." Films About Films was created after leading filmmakers suggested it; its titles include Barnaby Thompson's "Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean" and Francesco Zippel's "Vittorio De Sica – Staging Life."

Seven first features compete for the best debut prize: "Fading Man" (Germany), "The Sledge" (India), "Paris" (Belgium), "The Black Sea" (Egypt), "L'Âge d'Or (The Golden Age)" (France and Italy), "Birds on Ice" (India) and "Atlantic" (China). The wider program counts 52 women directors and 62 first-time filmmakers.

What about the classics?

Restored Classics will screen Don Siegel's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," Danny Boyle's "Trainspotting," David Lynch's "Wild at Heart," F.W. Murnau's "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" and Ernst Lubitsch's "To Be or Not to Be." Andrzej Wajda gets a five-film centenary tribute. Indian centenary honorees include directors Shakti Samanta and Raj Khosla, actors Uttam Kumar, Suryakant Mandhare, Prem Nazir and Raj Kumar, and composers O.P. Nayyar and Ravi.

The WAVES Film Bazaar market will host 150 invited guests, including buyers and production companies, with a Screenwriters' Lab, a Co-production Market, a Viewing Room and a Work-in-Progress Lab. Netflix, the bazaar's Knowledge Series partner, will present the gala premiere of "Pushpak Viman" alongside an international screening of "Ray Gunn," and will highlight its work with the Indian government on building the country's VFX talent base.

Screenings run on 13 indoor screens at four locations — Panaji, Porvorim, Margao and Ponda — seating more than 4,000 in total. IFFI launched in 1952 and ranks among Asia's oldest festivals, organized by the information and broadcasting ministry with the Goa government and the Entertainment Society of Goa. With Netflix on the marquee and 62 debut filmmakers in the wings, the 57th edition reads less like a regional fixture and more like a market making its case.