Opinion IFFI must match ambition with a greater sense of purpose

Over 70 years ago, the International Film Festival of India began as an earnest attempt to place Indian cinema on the world map. Today, IFFI stands as one of the country’s three most prestigious festivals — alongside the International Film Festival of Kerala and MAMI Mumbai Film Festival — and its evolution mirrors both the ambitions and contradictions of the Indian film ecosystem.

The 56th edition of IFFI, which concluded on Friday, showed an expansion of ambition. The eclectic programming included films by Joachim Trier, Jafar Panahi and Takashi Miike, along with contemporary and classic Indian films, such as the recent Marathi film Ghondal (it won the Best Director award for Santosha Davakhar) and a Rajinikanth retrospective (the actor was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award). Infrastructural investments were more visible, and there were efforts to create industry-facing conversations with the WAVES Film Bazaar. For a country with thriving regional cinemas and a vibrant independent scene that often works without institutional support, a national festival of this scale matters. But ambition must be accompanied by clarity of purpose. At IFFI, all too often, the spotlight is trained on celebrity attendees, films which already have market muscle behind them and speeches by officials and politicians. An event of IFFI’s scale and scope should be moulding sensibilities and discovering new talent. Consider the Cannes International Film Festival. Its red carpet and A-list guests draw global attention, but the festival’s beating heart remains cinema, with its selections and awardees shaping cultural conversations.

Advertisement

There is nothing wrong with using the glamour of celebrity to draw attention to cinema. But that should be incidental to what is the raison d’etre of any film festival of note: Investing in those who need it most — lesser-known filmmakers, independent voices and daring projects. This is not an unfamiliar role for the IFFI. Once upon a time, it was home to groundbreaking work, such as the films of Mani Kaul, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Kumar Shahani. The “festival film” — exploratory, patient, boundary-pushing — was not peripheral but central to IFFI’s identity. A truly national festival must ensure that all kinds of stories — mainstream, marginal and everything in between — find a place in it.