Cinevesture International Film Festival (CIFF, March 20-23) has opened in Chandigarh, India, with a screening of Korean drama A Normal Family (pictured above), directed by Hur Jin-ho, and short film The Cycle, from Punjabi filmmaker Arpita Mukherjee.
In its second edition, the four-day event has also launched several new sections in its CinéV industry platform – ProofPoint, In The Works Lab and CinéV Spotlight – in addition to the previously announced projects market line-up.
On the festival side, CIFF is screening 15 award-winning titles in its World Cinema section, including Jacques Audiard’s Oscar winner Emilia Perez, Magnus von Horn’s The Girl With The Needle, Mati Diop’s Dahomey and Neo Sora’s Happyend.
The India Unveiled section is screening 17 independent films, including the world premiere of Fathers And Sons, from Punjabi filmmaker Ankur Singla, and Dibakar Banerjee’s Tees (see full ist of India Unveiled titles below). CIFF is also featuring a special tribute to late Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal, with screenings of three of his films – Mammo, Manthan and The Seventh Horse Of The Sun.
In the CinéV market, ProofPoint has selected 17 short films looking to expand to feature-length formats, while In The Works Lab is a mentorship programme for projects at rough cut stage. CinéV Spotlight will showcase six projects also at rough cut stage.
Six projects have been selected for In The Works Lab, including four features and two documentaries (see full line-up below). Mentors include producer Sidharth Meer, filmmaker Shonali Bose, editor Nitin Baid and producer Kilian Kerwin.
The six films selected for CinéV Spotlight include Nareshkumar Hegde’s Tingl Belku, Abhilash Sharma’s Swaha, Sanju Surendran’s Khidki Gaav, Prabodh Bhajni’s Yeh Mera Ghar, Sajin Baabu’s Theatre – The Myth Of Reality and Siddharth Badi’s Umal.
The CIFF and CinéV team includes festival director VS Kundu, artistic director Bina Paul, Cinevesture founder and CEO Nina Lath and Namrata Joshi as Project Market Curator. Leena Khobragade is serving as ProofPoint curator, with Rucha Pathak curating InTheWorks Lab and CinéV Spotlight.
CinéV In The Works Lab:
Flowers Of Acacia, dir: Anmol Sidhu
The Good, The Bad And The Hungry, dir: Vivek Kumar
The Lost Path, dir: Khanjan Kishore Nath
Two Ways Of Being, dir: Soumitra Ranade
I’m Not Home, dir: Naveen Pun (documentary)
Mahjabeen, dir: Geetika Narang Abbasi (documentary)
CINVESTURE IFF 2025 INDIA UNVEILED:
A Boy Who Dreamt Of Electricity, dir: Jigar Nagda (Rajasthani)
A Fly On The Wall, dir: Nilesh Maniyar, Shonali Bose (English)
Angammal, dir: Vipin Radhakrishnan (Tamil)
Bronzed, dir: Aditya Watts (Haryanvi, Hindi)
Bus No. 7, dir: Zubin Mehta (Punjabi)
Fathers And Sons, dir: Ankur Singla (Punjabi)
Ghamasaan, dir: Tigmanshu Dhulia (Hindi)
Humans In The Loop, dir: Aranya Sahay (Hindi, Kurukh)
Little Thomas, dir: Kaushal Oza (Hindi)
Now & Forever, dir: Shalini Ushadevi (Malayalam)
Rhythm Of Dammam, dir: Jayan Cherian (Konkani, Kannada)
Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust, dir: Ishan Shukla (English, French)
Second Chance, dir: Subhadra Mahajan (Hindi, English, Kullavi)
Tees, dir: Dibakar Banerjee (Hindi)
The Fable, dir: Raam Reddy (English, Hindi)
The Tiger, dir: Nikhil Mahajan (Marathi)
Viduthalai Part 2, dir: Vetrimaaran (Tamil)