IFFI Registration Opens For Goa

By Pickle September 16, 2026

The 57th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has unveiled “Stories Without Borders” as its 2026 theme, pitched as spanning social, generational and cultural boundaries within India, not just geography, positioning IFFI as a bridge between India’s regional storytelling and an international delegate base booking Goa into its November run.

Delegate registrations for the festival are now open, marking the start of the countdown to Goa’s cinema showcase, scheduled for November 20-28, 2026 (IFFI Goa). Film professionals, cine enthusiasts and students can register through the MYIFFI portal at my.iffigoa.org, with fees at Rs 1,180 (inclusive of GST) for professionals and enthusiasts, and free access for students.

For global audiences and industry delegates blocking their calendars, the WAVES Film Bazaar 2026 runs alongside IFFI from November 20 to 24, offering a dedicated market window for co-production meetings, viewing-room screenings and buyer-seller sessions before the festival’s own programming continues through November 28. Booking travel and delegate passes around this five-day market stretch is now the practical planning cue for international visitors.

IFFI’s history stretches back to 1952, when the inaugural edition opened at Bombay’s New Empire Cinema with 21 nations before moving through Delhi, Calcutta and Madras. It turned competitive in 1965, earning FIAPF’s “A” category alongside Cannes, Berlin and Venice, with Satyajit Ray chairing that first competitive jury. Goa became its permanent home in 2004, and the festival now draws over 45,000 delegates across nine days, with participation from 100-plus countries (IFFI Goa).

Steering this 57th edition is filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker, the Lagaan and Swades director appointed Festival Director by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting earlier this year.

At Cannes 2026, where he represented India’s official delegation and helped open the Bharat Pavilion alongside Alia Bhatt, Gowariker laid out his priorities for Goa: incubating first-time filmmakers, expanding space for documentaries and shorts, and backing homegrown, culturally rooted stories for a global stage. “My focus for IFFI this year is going to be new talent, the young filmmakers, even the one-time filmmakers who have got stories to tell,” he said.

At Cannes, Gowariker reflected on how filmmaking itself has shifted, noting he was there chiefly “to observe how festivals are built, how sections are curated and how emerging voices are nurtured”. He argued that “conviction alone is no longer enough” for today’s filmmakers, with structure, market awareness and scale now shaping decisions once driven purely by a strong idea.