57th IFFI to be held in Goa from November 20
The festival will feature 159 films from 86 countries under the theme ‘Stories Without Borders’.
The 57th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will take place in Goa from November 20 to 28, 2026, according to reports by The News Mill and Hindustan Times. The event will operate under the theme ‘Stories Without Borders’ to highlight how cinema connects people across different cultures and geographies.
A press conference held in Dona Paula on Friday, November 13, announced that the festival will showcase 159 films from 86 countries. These films were chosen from approximately 1,400 submissions. The Polish film ‘Fatherland’ by Paweł Pawlikowski will open the festival, while the Ranveer Singh-starrer ‘Dhurandhar’ will serve as the opening feature for the Indian Panorama segment.
The festival includes three main competitions: the International Competition, the Best Debut Feature Film Competition, and the ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal. A Best Web Series (OTT) Award will also be presented. The International Competition jury will be led by Indian filmmaker Aanand L Rai.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that Goa becomes a hub for storytellers every November and that IFFI has become an important international platform. Festival director and filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker said the theme helped the team examine how films connect with audiences by challenging conventional ideas of boundaries.
The curtain-raiser event was attended by officials including Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Secretary Chanchal Kumar and National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) Chairperson G. Krishnakumar.