| IFFI Best Film Award | |
|---|---|
| Golden Peacock | |
| Awarded for | "Outstanding film of a high aesthetic and technical standard and educational and culture value" [1] |
| Sponsored by | International Film Festival of India |
| First awarded | 1965 [2] |
| Last awarded | 2024 |
| Most recent winner | Toxic |
| Highlights | |
| Total awarded | 37 |
| First winner | Gamperaliya |
The IFFI Best Film Award (officially known as the Golden Peacock for the Best Feature Film) is the main prize of the International Film Festival of India presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India. [3] [4] It is one of several awards presented for feature films and awarded with the Golden Peacock a representation of the Peacock, India’s national bird, with a permanent motto of the festival Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The whole world is a family). [5] The award is announced for films produced in a year across the world. The award was instituted in 1965 from the 3rd IFFI competitive edition. [5] [6]
The award carries a cash prize of ₹40 lakh (US$48,000) shared equally between the director and producer. The director will receive the Golden Peacock and a certificate in addition to the cash prize. The producer will receive a certificate in addition to the cash. [7]
| Edition | Film | Director | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd | Nirjan Saikate | Tapan Sinha |  India |
| 4th | Man and the Crow (Short Film) |  Sri Lanka | |
| 29th | Paper Airplanes | Farhad Mehhranfar |  Iran |
| 45th | Ek Hazarachi Note | Shrihari Sathe | India |
| Edition | Film | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd | Cyclone |  Cuba |
| 4th | Taking off at 1800 Hours | Cuba |
| 5th | Automatic |  Czechoslovakia |
| 6th | After the Silence | India |
| 7th | An Encounter with Faces Olympic Games | India  Poland |
| 8th | A Period of Transition |  Denmark |
| 9th | Not Awarded | Not Awarded |
| 10th | Narcissus |  Canada |
| 11th | Not Awarded | Not Awarded |
The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excellence of the film art; contributing to the understanding and appreciation of film cultures of different nations in the context of their social and cultural ethos, and promoting friendship and cooperation among people of the world. The festival is conducted jointly by the National Film Development Corporation of India and the state Government of Goa.
The 3rd International Film Festival of India was held from 8 to 21 January 1965 in New Delhi. The third edition was the first competitive film festival ever held in India, inaugurated by the then President of India Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. The festival Chaired by Satyajit Ray for the first time was graded ‘A’ category by the Paris - based Federation International de Producers de Films. With this recognition the festival in India came on par with Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Karlovy Vary and Moscow International film festivals.
The 42nd International Film Festival of India was held on 23 to 30 November 2011 in Goa. The International competition (Feature) was chaired by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, and Short film competition was chaired by Basu Bhattacharya. For the first time the 42d IFFI had launched its own poster with a depiction of fest motif "Peacock", made as a "dancing peacock" by veteran film design and art consultant Thotta Tharani. The IFFI signature film was conceptualized by veteran film maker Shaji Karun. New sections such as “Kaleidoscope”, 3 D, Animation, European discoveries, Master Classes and Russian Classics were included, along with the inaugural Best Director Award. Indian actor Shah Rukh Khan was the chief guest for the festival.
The 7th International Film Festival of India was held from 3–17 January 1979 in New Delhi. The festival opened with "Junoon" by Shyam Benegal in the out of Competition world premiere. The festival was the only competitive and exclusive international film festival organised in the entire Third World during 1978–79. For the first time in the history of the Indian Competitive film festivals, the Jury was headed by a foreigner, Qusmane Sembene of Senegal. There were two women on the jury for the first time.
The 11th International Film Festival of India was held from 10-24 January 1987 in New Delhi. The festival gave a breakthrough for commercial cinema, through the introduction of "Indian Mainstream section". India's official entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1986 - "Swati Mutyam" was screened in the mainstream section.
The 31st International Film Festival of India was held from 10–20 January 2000 in New Delhi. The competitive edition was restricted to "Asian Directors". The follow-up 32nd IFFI edition was cancelled due to interim decision.
The 27th International Film Festival of India was held from 10 to 20 January 1996 in New Delhi. The competitive edition was restricted to "Asian Women Directors".
The 33rd International Film Festival of India was held from 1–10 October 2002 in New Delhi. The competitive edition was restricted to "Asian Directors". Deepak Sandhu served as the director for the festival. The Devdas retrospective received special mention. From this edition, the "Film Bazaar" was instituted.
The 34th International Film Festival of India was held from 9–19 October 2003 in New Delhi. The competitive edition was restricted to Asian Directors and Neelam Kapur was the festival director. Veteran actor Kamal Haasan was the chief guest.
The 35th International Film Festival of India was held from November 29 - December 9 2004 in Goa. The edition is the first globally competitive edition with a permanent venue at Goa. The "Beach Screening" section of Hollywood blockbusters was instituted for the first time at this edition.
The 36th International Film Festival of India was held from November 24 to December 4, 2005 in Goa. The edition is focused on French cinema. Veteran actors Dev Anand and Chiranjeevi inaugurated the edition. The 36th edition was for the first time executed by Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Ltd. The jury consisted of Latin American filmmaker Miguel Littin, French Director Alain Corneau, filmmaker Saeed Mirza, Iranian actor-director Faramarz Gharibian and Austrian filmmaker Sabine Derflinger.
The 38th International Film Festival of India was held from November 23 - December 3 2007 in Goa. Hungarian cinema was the "Country Focus" in this edition. Filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta was the chief guest for this edition.
The IFFI Award for Best Actress (officially known as the Silver Peacock for the Best Actor Award (Female)) is an honor presented annually at the International Film Festival of India since 2010 to an actress for the best performance in a leading role in World cinema. Earlier the award was presented on various occasions at the 3rd IFFI for ensemble cast in "Nirjan Saikate", and Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres at 11th IFFI.
The IFFI Award for Best Actor (officially known as the Silver Peacock for the Best Actor Award (Male)) is an honor presented annually at the International Film Festival of India since 2010 to an actor for the best performance in a leading role in World cinema. Earlier the award was presented on two occasions at the 7th and 11th IFFI for two Indian actors.
The 68th National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2020 in Indian cinema. The awards ceremony was originally slated to be held on 3 May 2021 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The winners were declared on 22 July 2022, and the awards were presented on 30 September 2022.
The 52nd International Film Festival of India opened on 20 November 2021 with The King of All the World by Carlos Saura in Goa. Like the 51st edition, this edition was held in a hybrid format which combined online and face-to-face participation. The BRICS Film Festival was held alongside main festival, in which films from BRICS nations, namely Brazil, Russia, South Africa, China and India were showcased. These five countries were 'the 'countries of focus' in the 52nd edition of the festival.
The 53rd International Film Festival of India was an event held from 20 to 28 November 2022 with Alma & Oskar by Dieter Berner as the opening feature film, and Perfect Number by Krzysztof Zanussi as the closing feature film. France was the country of focus in the festival with eight films of the country included in the 'country of focus' section.
The IFFI Indian Film Personality of the Year and Special Recognition for Contribution to Bharatiya Cinema Award is a National honour instituted by the International Film Festival of India. The recipient is honoured for their "outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Cinema of India. The award was first instituted in the year 2013 from the 44th IFFI.
The IFFI Award for Best Director is an honor presented annually at the International Film Festival of India since the 40th IFFI 2009 for the best direction in World cinema. Earlier the award was presented as the "Silver Peacock for the Most Promising Asian Director" during "31st IFFI 2000" to "39th IFFI 2008"
The IFFI Special Jury Award and Special Mention are the two honors presented annually at the International Film Festival of India for excellency in Film Art in World cinema. It was first presented during the 4th IFFI 1969. The award was later re-instated since 29th IFFI 1998. On the occasion of 100 years of Indian cinema, centenary awards were conferred during 2012, 2013, and 2014. The special mention is being awarded since the 46th IFFI 2015.
