Pawel Pawlikowski’s ‘Fatherland’ to open 57th International Film Festival of India

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Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Fatherland” will open the 57th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), scheduled to take place in Goa from November 20 to…

Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Fatherland” will open the 57th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), scheduled to take place in Goa from November 20 to 28.

The festival will showcase 159 international films from 86 countries alongside 76 Indian films, under the theme “Stories Without Borders”. The announcement was made by festival director and filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker at a press conference on Friday.

Pawlikowski, known for acclaimed films such as “Ida” and “Cold War”, received the Best Director award at the 79th Cannes Film Festival for “Fatherland”. The film will be followed by Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen’s “We Are All Strangers”, which has been selected as the festival’s closing title.

Meanwhile, Aditya Dhar’s “Dhurandhar”, starring Ranveer Singh, will open the Indian Panorama feature-film section, while the Ladakhi-language non-feature film “Becoming” will inaugurate its non-feature category. The Indian Panorama selection comprises 25 feature films and 20 non-feature films, chosen from more than 700 submissions.

Ranbir Kapoor-starrer “Ramayana”, directed by Nitesh Tiwari, will open the festival’s special BRICS cinema showcase, featuring films from all 11 member countries.

This year’s festival received 1,400 film submissions from 137 countries, according to the announcement at the press conference. The selected programme includes nine world premieres, two international premieres, 24 Asian premieres and 116 Indian premieres, alongside 14 gala premieres.

The international competition will feature 15 films, while seven titles will compete for the Best Debut Feature Film award. Another 10 films will vie for the ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal.

Filmmaker Aanand L Rai will chair the international competition jury. The other members are Romanian filmmaker Bogdan Mureșanu, Venezuelan filmmaker María Alejandra Rojas, Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke and Argentine filmmaker Sol Berruezo Pichon-Rivière.

The festival’s top honour, the Golden…

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