The 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has announced its international competition featuring 15 feature films vying for the Golden Peacock Award and a total prize money of 90 million rupees ($101,500).
The competition comprises 12 international titles and three Indian films, with Indian filmmaker Rakesh Omprakash Mehra heading the international jury. The jury includes Australian editor and director Graham Clifford, German actor Katharina Stoller, Sri Lankan director Chandran Rutnam and British cinematographer Remi Adefarasin.
The winner of the Golden Peacock will receive a cash prize of 40 million rupees ($45,115), as well as Best Director, Best Actor (Male), Best Actor (Female) and the Special Jury Award.
Among the international selections, Fatih Akin’s Amrum premiered at Cannes in 2025. Co-written by veteran German director Halk Böhm, this German-Turkish historical drama follows a 12-year-old boy living on the North Sea island of Amrum during the final days of World War II.
Un Poeta, directed by Simón Mesa Soto, won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and was Colombia’s entry at the 98th Academy Awards. This tragedy centers around the elderly poet Oscar Restrepo and the talented girl he mentors, Yurlady.
French director Diane Curis returns with “C’est Si Bon” (Moi qui t’aimais), which premiered at Cannes in 2025. This romance chronicles the last years of Simone Signoret and Yves Montand’s relationship.
Little Trouble Girls (Kaj ti je deklica), directed by Urska Dzukic, is a Slovenian debut film that premiered in Berlin in 2025. This coming-of-age film about a girls’ choir camp is a Slovenian Oscar nominee.
Italian sisters Valentina and Nicole Bertani’s Mosquito (Le bambine) premiered in Locarno in 2025 and was nominated for a Golden Leopard Award. This quirky coming-of-age comedy-drama, set in 1990s Italy, follows three girls as they navigate their way through adolescence.
The Austrian psychological thriller “Mother’s Baby,” directed by Johanna Moder, is about a 40-year-old woman’s struggles with motherhood and was first released in Berlin in 2025.
My Father’s Shadow, directed by Akinola Davis Jr., became the first Nigerian film to be selected as an official Cannes selection and won the 2025 Cannes Film Festival Special Prize: Camera d’Or. The autobiographical drama is set during the 1993 Nigerian elections.
“Plan 75” director Satoshi Hayakawa returns with “Renoir,” a coming-of-age drama set in the suburbs of Tokyo in 1987 about an 11-year-old girl battling her father’s terminal illness.
Japanese author Takashi Miike has contributed the courtroom drama “Sham” (Ditch Age: The Man Asked to Be a Murderous Teacher), which was inspired by Masumi Fukuda’s “Fabrication,” which premiered at Tribeca 2025.
Ash Mayfair’s Skin of Youth (Ồn ào tuổi trẻ) won the Special Jury Prize at the 2025 New York Asian Film Festival. This Vietnamese drama depicts a tumultuous romance in 1990s Saigon.
Oday Rasheed’s Adam’s Song, which premiered at the Red Sea in 2024, is a poetic drama set in 1946 Mesopotamia about a boy who stops aging after witnessing his grandfather’s death.
Farida Baki’s debut feature, Visual Feminist Manifesto, premiered in Rotterdam in 2025 and won the Youth Jury Prize. The film follows a young woman’s journey from birth to adulthood in an unnamed Arab city.
India’s competition entries include Rajkumar Periasamy’s Tamil biographical war action drama Amaran (Immortal), based on Shiv Aror and Rahul Singh’s India’s Most Fearless: True Stories of Modern Military Heroes. The film depicts the 2014 Kazipatri operation and the bravery of Major Mukund Varadarajan.
Talava KV’s Malayalam family drama ‘Saakeet’ (Short Journey) follows parents struggling abroad with a son diagnosed with ADHD.
Indian National Film Award-winning director Santosh Davakar’s Gondal (Maharashtrian Ritual) is set during a ritual in rural Maharashtra, and depicts a woman trapped in a loveless marriage who plots her escape with a Gondal performer.
The 56th Indian International Film Festival will be held in Goa from November 20th to 28th.
