Kantara Returns, International Heavyweights Set for Goa Film Fest Showdown
Rishab Shetty's sequel and a legendary German director headline the IFFI competition lineup.
The 57th International Film Festival of India is bringing the heat to Goa this November. Rishab Shetty's following up his breakout Kantara with Kantara: A Legend – Chapter 1, and he's stepping into some serious competition.
The festival's main competition lineup drops 15 films total—12 international entries mixed with three from India. That includes The Kerala Story 2: Goes Beyond from Kamakhya Narayan Singh and Volker Schlöndorff's Visitation, the kind of arthouse pedigree that reminds you IFFI takes itself seriously.
Running November 20-28, this year's festival is basically a masterclass in how regional Indian cinema is breaking through globally while still holding down the homefront. Shetty's Kantara proved there's an audience for bold, distinctly Indian storytelling that doesn't apologize. Now we'll see if the sequel has the same lightning in a bottle.
This is the lineup that matters if you're paying attention to where cinema's actually moving.
Read the full story at Variety → https://variety.com/2026/film/festivals/kantara-kerala-story-2-iffi-goa-international-competition-1236946906/
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