IFFI 2026 Sets Ramayana for BRICS, Dhurandhar for Indian Panorama
The 57th International Film Festival of India will run in Goa from November 20 to 28, 2026 under the theme Stories Without Borders, showcasing more than 150 international films from 86 countries out of over 1,900 submissions from 137 countries, according to Bollywood Hungama and NDTV. Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant inaugurated the curtain-raiser press conference on November 13 alongside Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Secretary Chanchal Kumar, NFDC Chairperson Krishna Kumar and Festival Director Ashutosh Gowariker, Bollywood Hungama reported.
Opening, Mid-Fest, Closing and BRICS Films
Paweł Pawlikowski's Fatherland, which won Best Director at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, will open the festival, while Alina Şerban's 101-minute co-production I Matter serves as the Mid-Fest Film and Anthony Chen's Singaporean feature We Are All Strangers closes the event, Bollywood Hungama and NDTV reported. Ranbir Kapoor, Yash and Sai Pallavi's Ramayana will open the BRICS cinema segment featuring films from all 11 member countries, following its theatrical release where it entered Bollywood's top 10 highest-grossing films of 2026 within two days, according to NDTV and IMDb. The Golden Peacock for Best Film at IFFI 2026 carries a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh, shared equally between the director and producer, according to Cinetrā. At the previous edition of IFFI, Vietnamese filmmaker Ash Mayfair's Skin of Youth won the Golden Peacock for Best Feature Film, according to Cinetrā.
Indian Panorama and New Festival Segments
The Indian Panorama section will open with the Ranveer Singh-starrer Hindi feature Dhurandhar and the Ladakhi non-feature film Becoming, NDTV reported. Across Indian Cinema, 76 films in 18 languages were selected from 404 feature submissions and 358 non-feature submissions, while the Best Web Series category drew 46 eligible entries, Bollywood Hungama reported. Titles in Indian Panorama include Kantara: A Legend Chapter - 1 and The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond, which also enters the International Competition, Bollywood Hungama said. The festival also added two five-film segments called Animation and Films About Films, alongside 14 Gala Premieres from 87 countries and a seven-film Best Debut Feature Films Competition, NDTV and Bollywood Hungama reported. Over 7,000 delegates have already registered for IFFI 2026, and the International Competition will have 15 films, according to Akashvani News On AIR.
Country Focus and Tributes
Spain is the Country of Honour with four films including Pedro Almodóvar's Bitter Christmas, while Russia is the Partner Country with four titles including Anastasia Kuzina's Bo Bo, Bollywood Hungama reported. IFFI 2026 will also hold an open-air Miramar Beach tribute screening of Nana Patekar's 2016 film Natsamrat and mark the birth centenaries of composers O P Nayyar and Ravi, filmmakers Shakti Samanta and Raj Khosla, and actors Uttam Kumar, Suryakant Mandhare, Prem Nazir and Raj Kumar, according to Bollywood Hungama. IFFI 2026 will run screenings for nine days across 13 indoor screens at four Goa locations, Panaji, Porvorim, Margao, and Ponda, with a combined seating capacity of over 4,000, according to The Cavalier.
Background
Highlights among the selection include German director Volker Schlöndorff's Visitation, Spanish director Daniel Monzón's Pray For Us, Vietnamese filmmaker Lê Bảo's Hearing, and Kyrgyz director Narghiza Dotieva's Skylark, according to Cinetrā.
The first IFFI was held in Bombay in January 1952, moved to Goa for the first time in 2004, and Goa was formally declared its permanent venue in 2014, according to The Cavalier.