From a humble beginning in 1952 to a global event now, the journey of IFFI is not just incredible, but also indispensable in the history of cinema. The 49 editions of IFFI provided a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excellence of the film art; contributing to the understanding and appreciation of film cultures of different nations in the context of their social and cultural ethos; and promoting friendship and cooperation among people of the world. A capsule of interesting things and trivia of IFFI editions, year by year

1952 : The first International Film Festival of India

It was organized in 1952 (January 24 to February 1) in Bombay’s New Empire Cinema. It was a non-competitive event. Films from 21 nations were screened. A special feature of the festival’s inaugural function was the screening of the first film screened in Bombay by the Lumiere Brothers in 1896. After running over a fortnight in Bombay, the festival moved to Calcutta, Madras and Delhi as well. The construction of open-air theatres for screening the films was another special feature of the festival. The festival was organized by Films Division.

1961 : 2nd IFFI

The venue for the second festival held in 1961 (October 27 to November 2), also non-competitive, was New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan. The festival was inaugurated by the then President Dr S Radhakrishnan. Ninety films – 40 features and 50 shorts – from 38 countries participated. The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting organized the festival in collaboration with the Film Federation of India.

1965 : 3rd IFFI

The third festival, the first competitive event, was in 1965 (January 8 to 21) in Delhi. It was graded ‘A’ category by the Paris-based Federation International De Producers De Films (FIAFP). With this recognition, the Indian film festival came on par with the Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Karlovy Vary and Moscow festivals. The jury was headed by Satyajit Ray and included Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, Andrzej Wajda and Lindsay Anderson. Sri Lankan director Lester James Peries’ Gemperaliya (Changes in the Village) won the Golden Peacock. The best actress award went collectively to Sharmila Tagore, Rama Guha Thakurta, Chhaya Debi, Bharati Debi and Renuka Roy for their ensemble performance in the Bengali film Nirjan Saikatey.

1969 : 4th IFFI

December 5 to 18, 1969. Venue: Ashoka Hotel Convention Hall, New Delhi. A total of 151 films were screened. The nine-member jury was chaired by Raj Kapoor and included writer R K Narayan and Swedish filmmaker Mai Zetterling. The Golden Peacock was won by Luchino Visconti’s The Damned. Mrinal Sen’s Bhuvan Shome and Lester James Peries’ Golu Hadawatha bagged jury prizes.

1974 : 5th IFFI

At the Fifth International Film Festival of India (December 30, 1974 to January 12, 1975), a permanent insignia was adopted. It comprises a representation of the peacock, India’s national bird, with a permanent motto of the festival ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakum’ (The whole world is a family). The same year, it was decided to hold a noncompetitive festival of films (Filmotsav) alternating with IFFI. While the Filmotsavs were organized at major film producing centres of India, the competitive IFFI was held in New Delhi. A total of 211 films from 46 countries were entered. The jury was presided over by Satyajit Ray. The other members were Aparna Sen, Bert Haanstra, Frank Capra, Krzyszt of Zanussi and Nagisa Oshima.

1977 : 6th IFFI

From the sixth festival onwards, the period as well as the dates for the festival were fixed as 3-17 January every alternate year. The festival was held in 1977 under the aegis of the newly-constituted Directorate of Film Festivals. A film market was also set up for the first time by IMPEC (Indian Motion Pictures Export Corporation). A Panorama of recent Indian feature films was organized. Fifty-four countries entered as many as 424 films. The jury was once again headed by Satyajit Ray. It included Girish Karnad and Hungarian filmmaker Peter Bacso.

1979 : 7th IFFI

The seventh festival, held in Delhi in 1979, was of special significance as it was the only competitive and exclusive International Film Festival organized in the entire Third World during 1978-79. (The 1978 Tehran Festival could not be held). For the first time in the history of the Indian competitive Film Festivals, the jury was headed by a foreigner, Qusmane Sembene of Senegal. Another significant aspect was the participation of women. There were two women on the jury – Chantal Akerman (Belgium) and Marta Meszaros (Hungary). The jury included B K Karanjia, Lester James Peries and Mrinal Sen. The Golden Peacock was won by Zoltan Fabri’s Magyarok (Hungarians).

1981 : 8th IFFI

January 3 to 17, Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Sixty-one countries entered 419 films. Russian director Grigory Chukhrai presided over a jury made up of G Aravindan, Shyam Benegal and Bertrand Tavernier, among others. Swedish director Marianne Ahrne was the only woman member of the jury. The Golden Peacock was shared by Rangel Vulchanov’s Bulgarian film The Unknown Soldier’s Patent Leather Shoes and Govind Nihalani’s Aakrosh, making it the first Indian film to bag the honour.

1983 : 9th IFFI

At the ninth festival in 1983, held in the Siri Fort complex in New Delhi, a new section for screening of 16mm films was added. An important landmark, during the festival was the participation of 22 Third World countries. The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) had become a major forum of Third World cinema. Fifty-two countries entered 415 films. The chairman of the jury was the British director Lindsay Anderson. Tomas Guiterrez Alea, Lino Brocka, Sergei Bondarchuk, Vyjayanthimala and Adoor Gopalakrishnan were the other jury members. No film was awarded the Golden Peocock. The Russian film Open Heart, directed by Aleksei Pollikov, won the Silver Peacock. The Indian film Chokh, directed by Utpalendu Chakraborty, won a Special Jury Prize.

1984

Filmotsav, Bombay (January 3-16, 1984)

1985 : 10th IFFI

For the first time, the festival held in 1985, the tenth in the series, had an International Panorama of select short films and documentaries in an effort to create an identity for short films.

1986

When the Filmotsav was held in Hyderabad, the Festival’s duration as well as the dates were changed from 3-17 January to 10-24 January. Feature films selected for Indian Panorama were Aadmi Aur Aurat (Hindi), Accident (Kannada), Aghaat (Hindi), Agnisaan (Assamese), Anant Yatra (Hindi), New Delhi Times (Hindi), Muthal Mariyadai (Tamil), Shart (Hindi) among others. The foreign section included retrospectives of Hungarian director Istean Zaabo and German modernist Fassbinder, besides a set of “American western cowboy” films. The main focus of the festival was women filmmakers in third world cinema, with Aparna Sen and Sai Paranjpye as the inclusions from India.

1987 : 11th IFFI

It held in New Delhi , represented a breakthrough for commercial cinema, through the introduction of the Mainstream section. The competition section had 60 entries from 34 countries. Roland Jaffe’s The Mission (brilliant performance by Robert de Niro) which got the Palmed’Or, Andrei Tarkovsky’s masterpiece, The Sacrifice, with Erland Josephson; the Brazilian film, Love Forever or Never, which won Fernanda Torres the best actress award were part of the festival. Roman Polanski’s Pirate was screened in the festival.

1988

Filmotsav ‘88 in Thiruvananthapuram began with much fanfare. Twenty-six short films made by students of the Film Training Institute of India (FTII) were shown. The film selected for the opening of the Indian Panorama was Girish Kasarvalli’s much-acclaimed Tabarana Kathe (Story of Tabarana).

1989 : 12th IFFI

The significant change in the 12th IFFI, held in 1989, was that it was made non-competitive. Also, a decision was taken that festivals in future would be non-competitive and all festivals would be called International Film Festival of India (IFFI). Hence the festival held in Calcutta was called the 21st IFFI instead of Filmotsav 90. Another important decision taken in June 1989 was
that the IFFI would be of only 10 days’ duration. The festival, henceforth would now be held from January 10 to 20. Hence the number of films in the ‘Cinema of the World’ section, which was changed from ‘Information section’ from the 12th IFFI, was reduced though the other sections of the festival remained unaffected.

At the 6th IFFI the film lineup included Alfred Hitchcock’s lat est work “The Fami ly Plot ”; the first British feature film with synchronous sound “Blackmail”, “Juno and the Paycock”, “Murder”, “Skin Game” and “Rich and the Strange”.

1990 : 21st IFFI

It was held in Calcutta.

1991 : 22nd IFFI

It was held in Madras in 1991. It had a focus on South Korean cinema. Tributes were paid to the American director Robert Altman. Homage was paid to V Shantaram, S Mukherjee, Shankar Nag, Arundhati Devi and Manmohan Krishna. Diamond Jubilee of Indian cinema and Platinum jubilee of Tamil cinema were celebrated during the festival.

1992 : 23rd IFFI

It was held in Bangalore. It had a special focus on films from Iran. Retrospectives of Italian director Francesco Rosi and Cahiers du Cinema were organised. Tributes were paid to Anne Wheeler and King Ampaw. In the Indian section, a retrospective of Kannada cinema was organised and homage was paid to R R Panthulu, G Aravindan and Balraj Sahni.

1993 : 24th IFFI

It was held in New Delhi. The festival focussed on the Vietnamese cinema. Retrospectives of Ingrid Bergman, Vittorio De Sica, the Kaurismaki brothers and Argos Films were organised. Homage was paid to Kanan Devi and Bhalji Pendharkar.

1994 : 25th IFFI

The 25th IFFI dedicated to Satyajit Ray was held in Calcutta. The festival had a focus on ‘Films from Mongolia’. Homage was paid to Uptal Dutt and Vijay Bhatt. Tributes were paid to Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni. Retrospectives of Liti and Fons Rademakers, Ingmar Bergman and Greta Garbo were also organized.

1995 : 26th IFFI

It was organized in Bombay, the birthplace of Indian cinema. The event marked the centenary of cinema. A special section was devoted to the film heritage. An exhibition on hundred years of cinema was also organized as part of the festival. Retrospectives of Federico Fellini, Zoltan Fabri, Amos Gitai, Miguel Littin, Krzyzstof Kielowski and Elvis Presley were organised. A section was devoted to the works of the Asian women directors and a special retrospective of Marathi cinema was also organized.

1996 : 27th IFFI

It was again held in New Delhi. After many years the competition was revived on a limited scale. The section on ‘Asian Women Directors’ was made competitive. Retrospectives of Denys Arcaud, Gene Kelly; Marta Meszaros and Nanni Moretti were held. Tributes were paid to Rainer Werner Fassbinder; Zhang Yimou and Louis Malle. The festival also had a focus on ‘Films from Iran’.

1997 : 28th IFFI

It was held in Thiruvananthapuram. The festival had a focus on South Africa. Retrospectives of the polish director Krzysztof Kielowski and the Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf were organised. Homage was paid to the Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni and tribute was paid to the Chilean director Miguel Littin. In the Indian Section, homage was paid to P A Backer and Smita Patil and a special package of Tapan Sinha’s films. A special retrospective was devoted to the Malayalam cinema giving a panoramic view of the 70 years of Malayalam cinema. To mark the 50 years of India’s independence, a photo exhibition on the theme of ‘National Integration and Indian Cinema’ was also organised.

1998 : 29th IFFI

It was held in New Delhi. The festival focused on recent African cinema, films from Sarajevo and Iran. Retrospectives of Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda and Carlos Saura were organised. Homage was paid to the Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. In the Indian section homage was paid to Chetan Anand and Basu Bhattacharya. A cinematic tribute was also paid to fifty years of Indian Independence by screening 10 nationalist classics. Another highlight of the festival was that competition, which had been restricted to Asian women directors only, was broadened this year to include male directors as well.

1999 : 30th IFFI

It was held in Hyderabad from January 10-20, 1999. The festival was non-competitive. Oscar nominee Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth was the opening film of the festival. In the foreign retrospective and tributes section, the films of Hou Hsiao Hsien (Taiwan), Theo Angelopoulos (Greece) and Zsolt Kezdi-Kovacs (Hungary) were screened as a tribute to the legendary filmmakers. A highlight of the festival was ‘Visions of India’, which provided a glimpse of our country through the eyes of non-Indian filmmakers Sixteen features and twenty non-feature films were showcased in the Indian Panorama section. The festival focused on ‘films from Argentina.’

2000 : 31st IFFI

It was held in New Delhi. The opening and closing ceremonies reflected on the spirit of new millennium.

2002 : 33rd IFFI

The 33rd IFFI saw the presenting of awards by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani. Russian film Letters to Elza by Igor Maslemikov bagged the Golden Peacock Award. In his address, Advani said that Indian film industry has made tremendous progress and achieved great capabilities of world standard. Information and Broadcasting Minister, Sushma Swaraj, said that Indian film industry and politics had great connections. Chairman of the Jury, Budhadeb Dasgupta, requested the Government to continue its support to the film festival.

2003 : 34th IFFI

It was inaugurated by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani. While Kamal Haasan was the guest of honour, Kareena Kapoor acted as the Thali Girl. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was present. In his address, Advani assured the film industry that the Government would take all possible steps to check the menace of piracy, which is eating into the vitals of the industry. In all 212 films were screened in the Indian Panorama, Cinema of the World, Retrospectives, Country Focus and Competitive Sections. Actress Live Ullmann was selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award, while retrospectives of B R Chopra and K S Sethumadhavan’s films were organized.

2004 : 35th IFFI

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Culture Jaipal Reddy inaugurated the 35th International Film Festival of India, which was held in Goa for the first time. The inaugural function included a concert by A R Rahman and his troupe, with an introduction by noted filmmaker Subhash Ghai. The inaugural film was Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair. Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar was the Guest of Honour. Thespian actor Dilip Kumar and renowned actor Aamir Khan participated in the inaugural ceremony. The Film Festival featured seven major sections. This included Asian competition, Cinema of the World, Indian and Foreign Retrospectives, Tributes and Homages, Indian Panorama and Mainstream Indian Cinema. There were 400 screening of more than 200 films during the 10 days of the Festival

2005 : 36th IFFI

The 36th IFFI came to a close with the screening of Belgium-France film L’Enfant, directed by Jean Pierre & Luc Dardene. Iranian film Iron Island, directed by Mohammad Rasoulof bagged the best film award and won the Golden Peacock. The most promising Director award went to Vera Eugina Fogwill and Martin Desalvo for the Argentinean film Kept & Dreamless. Special Jury award went to Tom Hooper for Red Dust.

2006 : 37th IFFI

At the 37th IFFI, The Old Barber from China directed by Hasi Chaolu bagged the best film award with the Golden Peacock and a cash award of Rs 10 lakh for a beautifully realized story. The most promising director award went to Kyung Lee, AN for the Korean film A Short Life.

Addressing the gathering, the Chief Guest Aparna Sen described IFFI as a special event, which brought together a galaxy of film fraternity united by a common love for films. She said that the USP of IFFI, as the only festival which celebrates the ‘many cinemas of India’ was reflected this year as well. S K Arora, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, observed that IFFI showcased the latest art that people from all over the world presented. In a new initiative this year, a Technical Retrospective was started. This section covered topics on Digital Editing including a film Cutting Edge followed by a Presentation by the famous Editor Steven Cohen. Beach Screenings, Open Fora and special entertainment events on a daily basis were the other highlights of IFFI- 2006.

2007 : 38th IFFI

The 38th International Film Festival of India was inaugurated by noted actor Shahrukh Khan. In his remarks, Shahrukh Khan said, this premier event is a pride of the nation. Recognizing the contribution of the ordinary man in raising the popularity of cinema, he said ‘let us dedicate 38th IFFI to ordinary people.’ The Government’s decision to confer life time achievement award on veteran actor Dilip Kumar was announced at the event. Lata Mangeshkar was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement
Award for film songs. Romanian film 4 months, 3 weeks & 2 days was screened as the opening film. Around 200 films were screened during the 11-day Festival.

2008 : 39th IFFI

The 39th International Film Festival of India was inaugurated by actress Rekha. There were three Country Focuses this year- Russia, Switzerland and Iran. Director Sergei Dvortsevoy bagged the best film award with the Golden Peacock and a cash award of 40 lakh for the Kazakhstan film Tulpan. The filmmaker also got the Most Promising Director Award for the film. The Special Jury Award went to Sri Lankan actress Malini Fonseka whose film Akasa Kusum featured in the Competition Section. The closing ceremony started with a minute of silence in memory of victims of terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

2009 : 40th IFFI

The 40th IFFI was inaugurated by actress Waheeda Rehman. The International Jury headed by Brazilian Director Joao Batista de Andrade along with other members of the jury – Vic Sarin (Canada), Kenichi Okubu (Tokyo), Sarika (India) and Jean-Michel Frodon (France) were felicitated at
the opening ceremony. Taiwanese Film I can’t live without you bagged
Golden Peacock. A Brand New Life won Silver Peacock. The Festival
concluded with the screening of the Spanish film The Broken Embraces,
directed by Pedro Almodovar. 77 Indian movies including 44 in the Indian
Panorama with 26 Feature and 18 Non Feature films were screened during the Festival. There was a section to commemorate 75 years of Assamese Cinema.

2010 : 41st IFFI

The 41st edition of IFFI-2010 During saw the participation of several eminent film personalities. During the Festival, 300 films were featured from 61 countries. The Indian Section of the Festival featured Centenaries of five unforgettable cinema talents- Ashok Kumar, B R Panthulu, Motilal, Nadia and Raja Paranjpe. Apart from this, the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of Odiya cinema was also observed. Amongst the retrospectives scheduled for prominent filmmakers, the list included Jan Jakub Kolski Retrospective, Jim Jarmusch Restrospective, Michael Cacoyannis Retrospective and Mira Nair Retrospective. The country focus during the festival was Mexico, Georgia and Sri Lanka.

2011 : 42nd IFFI

The Columbian film Porfirio directed by Alejandro Landes and produced by Franciso Aljure bagged the coveted Golden Peacock Award for the Best Film at the 42nd International Film Festival of India, while the Silver Peacock Award for the Best Director went to Asghar Farhadi for his film Nader and Simin-A Seperation. The Indian film Adaminte Makan Abu won the Special Jury Award. Director of the film Salim Ahamed received the award which consists of a Silver Peacock, Certificate and a Cash Prize of Rs 15 Lakh. Famous Tamil actor Suriya was the Chief Guest of the closing function.
The Best Actor award of Rs 10 lakh went to the Israeli actor Sasson Gabay for his role in the film Restoration whereas the Best Actress Award was won by Nadezhda Markina for her role in Elena.

2012 : 43rd IFFI

Curtains came down on the 43rd International Film Festival of India with the screening of Meera Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Bollywood stars Jackie Shroff, Shreyas Talpade
and Payal Rohtagi, among others were present at the closing ceremony. The Chief Guest was Telugu actor Nandamuri Balakrishna. The Guest of Honour was award winning Australian Director Paul Cox. The festival started with the screening of Oscar Award winner Ang Lee’s Life of Pi. Gurvinder Singh’s Punjabi film Anhey Ghorhey Da Daan bagged Golden Peacock. Best Director’s award went to Kyu-hwan Jeon for his film The Weight. Anjali Patil’s heart-warming performance in Prasanna Vithanag’s Sinhala-Tamil movie With You, Without You won her the Best Actor (Female) award. Special Jury Award went to Lucy Mulloy for her Spanish movie Una Noche. The IFFI this year celebrated the centenary year of Indian Cinema by bestowing the ‘Centenary Film Award’ to Meera Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

2013 : 44th IFFI

One of the best known representatives of the ‘New Wave Czech Cinema’, Jiri Menzel received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 44th edition of IFFI. Jiri Menzel made his mark on the cultural history of his native Czech Republic as a film auteur, theatre director and actor. The festival saw the participation of legendary singer, Asha Bhonsle, noted Iranian film director, Majid Majidi, chief guest Susan Sarandon and the icon of Bollywood, Waheeda Rehman. Susan Sarandon said, “India has a rich history of film-making and is always eager to make films which broaden our horizon.” The multi-dimentional film personality, Kamal Hassan said he owed his success as an artist to the fraternity of the world cinema. Describing her association with the world of cinema, Asha Bhonsle acknowledged that seventy years in Indian film industry gave her immense love and affection.

2014 : 45th IFFI

At the 45th International Film Festival of India, superstar Rajinikanth was conferred Centenary Award for the Indian Film Personality of the Year. Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Finance Corporate Affairs, and Information & Broadcasting, in his address at the event, said that the Indian Film industry had come of age in view of the diversity it offered as regards the number of films produced in different languages and themes. “Cinema today acted as the alternate religion as it entertained, educated, gave a social perspective to issues, offered young growing minds the vision to learn and nurture talent,” he said. Jaitley also highlighted the importance of Goa being made the permanent venue of the International Film Festival of India in the context of its hospitality, growth, natural beauty and cultural diversity. In his address, the Chief Guest for the function, Amitabh Bachchan traced the evolution of Indian Cinema through its various facets touching upon the iconic films in different periods and the dominant themes. Bachchan highlighted the role and relevance of Indian Cinema in the context of India’s diversity and plurality.

2015 : 45th IFFI

Internationally co-produced adventure drama film Embrace of the Serpent (Al Abrazo de la Serpiente) bagged the Best Film Award at the 46th IFFI. The film was produced by Christina Gallego and directed by Ciro Guerra. The Best Director award went to Peter Greenaway for the film Eisenstein in Guanajuato. The Best Actor (Male) went to Vincent Lindon for his portrayal of a laid off factory worker Thierry Taogourdeau in the film The Measure of a Man. The Best Actor (Female) award was shared by Gunes Sensoy, Doga Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan and Ilyada Akdogan for portrayal of role of five young orphaned sisters in the Turkish film Mustang. The Russian film maker, actor and head of Russian Cinematographers Union Nikita Mikhalkov was conferred upon the Lifetime Achievement Award.

2016

At the Closing Ceremony of IFFI 2016, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting has said that Government was taking all efforts to digitalise whole spectrum of services available to the citizens. Convergence of array of services to empower citizens through Mobile technology is happening. The Film Facilitation Office (FFO) set up by the government was a step towards facilitating single window clearance for filmmakers, promote India as a filming destination and provide the platform for film tourism in the country, he said. Chief Guest was filmmaker S S Rajamouli. Best Film award was bagged by the Movie Daughter. The award came with the Golden Peacock Trophy, certificate and a cash prize amount of Rs 40,00,000, shared between the Director and the Producer equally. Iranian actor Farhad Aslani won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of the strict father in the same film Daughter picking up the Silver Peacock and Rs 10 lakh in cash prize. The Best Director award was given to Baris Kaya for the film Rauf. The ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal was awarded to Turkish film maker Mustafa Kara’s Cold of Kalandar.

Shekar Kapur’s Bandit Queen is the most merciless of movies. Almost anyone who sees it, registers two gut-wrenching shocks: the first, about caste and gender exploitation in rural India; the second, that Indian cinema could have mounted so scathing an attack on these through a living icon. Shyam Benegal and Pritish Nandy have said it is possibly the greatest film ever made in India

2017 : 48th IFFI

Actress Sridevi, who celebrated 50 years in the Indian film industry this year, inaugurated the Indian Panorama Section of the 48th International Film Festival of India. The inaugural ceremony introduced audiences to IFFI’s official selection of 26 Feature & 16 Non-Feature films under the Indian Panorama 2017 category. Sridevi, who made her presence felt at the opening ceremony of the festival, felicitated the renowned and upcoming filmmakers and presented to them certificates of participation at the Indian Panorama 2017. Morocco born French Director Robin Campillo’s drama film 120 BPM won the coveted Golden Peacock Award. Chinese director Vivian Qu won the Best Director Award for her 2017 film Angels Wear White. The Best Actor (Male) Award went to Nahuel Perez Biscaryat. The Best Actor (Female) went to Parvathy T K. Both Best Actor Male and Female
are honoured with the Silver Peacock Trophy and a cash prize of Rs 1 million. Mahesh Narayan also walked away with the Special Jury Award for his directorial debut Take Off. Manouj Kadaam’s Marathi film Kshitij won the ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal. The Indian Film Personality of the Year Award was presented to Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan.

2018 : 49th IFFI

The 49th edition of IFFI opened amidst the presence of film stars, filmmakers and cine-lovers from across the world amid pomp and gaiety.
The opening ceremony of IFFI 2018 also saw the launch of the Web Portal of Film Facilitation Office (FFO) by Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting set up the Film Facilitation Office in NFDC in 2015 with a view to promote and facilitate film shootings by foreign filmmakers in India, the services of which have now been extended to Indian filmmakers as well. Israeli master craftsman Dan Wolman was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Speaking at the occasion, Wolman said, “Thank you for honoring me with the Lifetime Achievement Award which is the highest award that I have ever received. It is sweeter because I am receiving it in India, a country whose people, culture and phenomenal cinema I truly admire.”

2019 : 50th IFFI

The 50th International Film Festival of India, 2019 will witness over 200 best films from 76 countries, 26 feature films and 15 non feature films in Indian panorama section and around 12,000 people and film lovers are expected to participate in the golden jubilee edition. Indian Panorama is a flagship section of IFFI, which showcases the best of contemporary Indian Feature and Non-Feature Films. This year, the Feature Film Jury was headed by acclaimed filmmaker and screenwriter Priyadarshan. The Jury has chosen the film HELLARO (Gujarati) directed by Abhishek Shah as the Opening Feature Film of Indian Panorama 2019. The Non–Feature Jury was headed by well-known documentary Filmmaker, Rajendra Janglay. The Non-Feature film Jury selected the film Nooreh directed by Ashish Pandey as the Opening Non-Feature Film of Indian Panorama 2019.