by Satinder Mohan
The first, ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal was Instituted at the 46th International Film Festival of India, held at Goa from 20 to 30th Nov 2015 when the first ICFT-UNESCO medal was awarded to an Indian film, CINEMAWALA directed by Kaushik Ganguli. At that time his medal was called ICFT UNESCO FELINI medal named after the legendary Italian filmmaker Federico Felini. Next year, the name of this medal was changed to ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi medal and since then this award is being given as ICFT UNESCO Gandhi medal. This award is an international honor presented in collaboration with the ICFT Paris under the aegis of UNESCO. The honor is given to an excellent film which promotes peace and inter-cultural dialogue, and honors Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of non-violence and peace.
The first film competing for this award this year was screened at Maquinez Palace Aud1at 11.45 am. The name of the first film in this category is BRIDES, directed by Nadia Fall from UK with 93-minute duration.
There are 10 films which are competing for this award. The names of the films are; Brides, Safe House, Hana, K Poper, The President’s Cake, The Wave, Yakushima’s Illusion,Tanvi the Great, White Snow, and Vimukt.
The films will be judged by an esteemed Jury panel comprising of Dr. Ahmed Bedjaoui, Film and Television Director-Producer and the Artistic Director of the International Film Festival of Algiers (Jury Chairperson); The other members are Xueyan Hun, Vice-President of the International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (CICT-ICFT) and Director of the Platform for Creativity and Innovation (PCI); Serge Michel, Vice-President of UNICA (Union Internationale du Cinéma); Tobias Biancone, Former Director-General of the International Theatre Institute (ITI); and Georges Dupont, Director-General of the International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (CICT-ICFT), former Senior International Civil Servant at UNESCO.
Hana
Award-winning Kosovan filmmaker Ujkan Hysaj’s debut feature Hana makes its World Premiere at the 56th International Film Festival of India 2025. The film follows an actress who joins an art-therapy program at a women’s rehabilitation center in Kosovo, helping war survivors transform pain into expression — until their stories trigger her own buried trauma and fractured identity. Hana is a deeply affecting exploration of memory, healing, and the power of art to confront wounds that history refuses to silence.
Yakushima’s Illusion
Acclaimed Japanese auteur Naomi Kawase teams up with Luxembourgish-German actor Vicky Krieps for this existential drama, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival 2025, where it was nominated for the Golden Leopard.
A French transplant coordinator in Japan works to save a boy’s life while searching for her missing partner, who becomes one of the country’s thousands of annual ‘Johatsu’ — people who vanish without trace. In trademark Kawase fashion, the film unfolds as a profound meditation on mortality, abandonment, and the invisible threads that bind human lives.
Tanvi the Great
After a successful theatrical run, actor and director Anupam Kher’s celebrated directorial venture Tanvi the Great marks its IFFI premiere. Tanvi Raina, a woman with autism, learns of her deceased Indian Army father’s dream to salute the flag at Siachen Glacier. Despite barriers facing those with autism in military service, she resolves to complete her mission. Through Tanvi’s journey, the film shows that courage, heart, and determination define true heroes. According to me, one of the 3 films may get the ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal in 56th IFFI.
(The writer is a retired Additional Director General from Ministry of Defence; and he has attended 42 editions of IFFI as a delegate, where the first IFFI attended by him was the 9th edition of IFFI and held at Siri Fort, New Delhi.
He has been a Jury member of Indian Panorama, feature film Jury at the 47th IFFI at Goa in 2016 and again in IFFI 2020 held in 2021)
