It’s a yearly tradition to be at the International Film Festival of India in Goa (IFFI Goa 2025). It’s never a regular Goa trip where you chill on the beaches. It’s about ten days of hopping from one cinema hall to another, attending a session or two if they seem interesting, and getting to be part of the opening and closing ceremonies.
This year, consciously or otherwise, I took a different route and spent it watching only films. I didn’t socialize much or attend any sessions. The reasons are two: One, IFFI increased the daily film quota from four to five. In the absence of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in 2025, I had to make sure I watched as many titles as possible while in Goa. Two, there was the sudden demise of our beloved superstar Dharmendra. The news left me quieter than usual, and I wasn’t in a very chatty mood.
The line-up at IFFI Goa 2025 was pretty splendid — I would say a lot better than the last two editions. I wasn’t very happy with how some of the films were slotted, though. It felt unfair to place a gem like Happy Birthday under the UNICEF x IFFI collaboration instead of the International Competition or the Best Debut Feature Film of a Director section. Beyond that, I skipped a few of the bigger titles that I have already watched or have access to, viz. It Was Just an Accident, Sirat, No Other Choice, Left-Handed Girl, The Message, Alpha, and Late Shift.
So, here goes my season’s Top 10, in reverse order of preference:
10. Father Mother Sister Brother (USA, Ireland, France, Italy, Japan)
Jim Jarmusch’s film is an episode coming-of-age tale stretching across continents. It treats fractured family bonds of different kinds with empathy in a chatty, emotional narrative.
9. The Wave (Chile, USA)
In a tense musical drama, Sebastián Lelio weaves a story about a community on the edge, geographically and emotionally. It isn’t a quiet film by any measure, but its bold subject is supported by good writing, acting, and stellar execution.
8. On Your Lap (Indonesia)
It’s a peculiar world and culture in Indonesia that we get to see in Reza Rahadian’s film. Its minimalism draws you closely into the fragile world of its characters, marked by poverty and loss.
7. We Believe You (Belgium)
In this powerful film by Arnaud Dufeys and Charlotte Devillers, we witness a gripping account of institutional apathy and the strength of collective testimony. The vérité-style storytelling is what makes the film special, along with Myriem Akheddiou’s mind-blowing lead act.
6. Lucky Lu (Canada, USA)
In Lucky Lu, filmmaker Lloyd Lee Choi spins a neorealist fable with a tense, evocative score that underlines how some lives remain burdened regardless of the wealth around them. As it closes on a stoic note, we can only empathize with the millions who move into a richer civilisation, only to enter a vicious circle of struggle.
5. The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (Chile, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany)
The only canteen in a mining town in Chile’s barren Atacama desert is run by a group of flamboyant transvestites, who become the hosts of glamour, fun, and also an unknown disease. Diego Céspedes’s story is so strange that the images and the world it creates feel both real and mythical.
4. Amrum (Germany)
Fatih Akin’s meditative and beautifully shot film is set on a quiet island, where isolation becomes both refuge and reckoning in the era of World War II. Jasper Billerbeck is a breakout talent in this poignant film about war and its impact on family and community.
3. Sentimental Value (Norway, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, UK)
Joachim Trier’s gorgeous and rich-looking film (I dare say, a magnum opus) is about siblings and their father who navigate grief, legacy and unexpected companionship. It balances warmth with quiet introspection and delivers a story that is intricate in a filmmaking method that is seldom simplistic.
2. Tiger (Japan)
In a narrative that flips between Tokyo and his hometown, Anshul Chauhan examines what the idea of family means to a young gay man in the Japanese-language film Tiger. Takashi Kawaguchi’s central performance is one of the bravest I’ve come across from an actor in any industry in 2025. And yes, it’s an Indian man directing a (fabulous) Japanese film. I didn’t type that wrong.
1. A Poet (Colombia, Germany, Sweden)
Its leading man is a poet in his 40s. He earns nothing and lives with his mother. He also has a teenage daughter he wants to provide for, but can’t. There are very few combinations in people as colossal as Oscar in A Poet. Rendered magical by Ubeimar Rios’s lead performance, this harrowing yet witty portrait of a man who is hapless in so many ways is the best film I watched at IFFI Goa this year. Director Simón Mesa Soto’s film sparks conversations that must be had in this era of easy polarization, bias, and cancel culture.
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FESTIVAL FAVOURITES FROM IFFI GOA 2025
Film: A Poet
Lead Performer (Male): Takashi Kawaguchi (Tiger)
Lead Performer (Female): Myriem Akheddiou (We Believe You)
Director: Anshul Chauhan (Tiger)
Screenplay: Simón Mesa Soto (A Poet)
Dialogues: We Believe You
Ensemble Cast: The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo
Cinematography: Amrum
Original Score: Sentimental Value
Production Design: Black Rabbit, White Rabbit
Editing: Lucky Lu
Visual Effects: Black Rabbit, White Rabbit
ALSO READ:
IFFI 2024 Roundup: Top 10 and Highlights from The Week-Long Gala
Films at IFFI Goa 2023: The Average, The Good and The Very Best
