Rajinikanth to be honoured at IFFI 2025 for 50 years in cinema

Indian cinema icon Rajinikanth will be honoured at the closing ceremony of the 56th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), to be held in Goa from November 20 to 28, marking five decades of his legendary film career.

This year's edition of IFFI will also commemorate the birth centenaries of cinematic legends such as Ritwik Ghatak, Salil Chowdhury, Bhupen Hazarika, Guru Dutt, Raj Khosla, and P Bhanumathi, through special screenings of their timeless works. Among them, Ghatak's "Subarnarekha" and Chowdhury's "Musafir" will be featured as part of the tribute.

In a major addition, IFFI 2025 will debut two new initiatives — India's first AI Film Festival and an AI Hackathon, highlighting the intersection of art, innovation, and technology shaping the future of cinema.

The festival will showcase over 240 films from 81 countries, including 160 films in the International Section, 80 award-winning titles, and 21 Oscar-nominated films. 

The opening film of the festival will be Brazilian filmmaker Gabriel Mascaro's "The Blue Trail", a sci-fi fantasy about a 75-year-old immigrant woman's transformative journey through the Amazon forest. The film earlier won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The Mid-Festival screening will feature Spanish director Óliver Laxe's "Sirāt", which earned the Critics' Week Award at Cannes, exploring a father's spiritual quest across the Moroccan desert.

IFFI 2025 will also screen a selection of international award-winning films from major festivals including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, and Toronto, such as It Was Just An Accident (Palme d'Or, Cannes), Father Mother Sister Brother (Golden Lion, Venice), Dreams (Sex Love) (Golden Bear, Berlin), Sirāt (Grand Jury Prize, Cannes), The Message (Silver Bear, Berlin), No Other Choice (People's Choice, Toronto), and Gloaming in Luomu (Best Film, Busan).

This year, Japan has been named the Country of Focus, with six films highlighting both established auteurs and emerging talents, ranging from intimate dramas to experimental and genre-bending cinema.

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Ritwik Ghatak honoured with centenary showcase at Kolkata Int’l Film Festival

The International Competition section will feature 15 films, with Indian filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra serving as the head of the jury.