‘Fatherland’ Chosen as Opening Film of 57th IFFI in Goa

The film that will raise the curtain in Goa is now known. ‘Fatherland’, titled ‘Ojczyzna’ in Polish and directed by Paweł Pawlikowski, has been selected as the opening film of the 57th International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The announcement was made on 14 November 2026, and the festival itself runs from 20 to 28 November 2026 in Goa. The screening at IFFI will also be the film's India premiere.

What the film is about

The story is set in the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, and follows the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning German writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika, who was an actress, a writer and a rally driver. Mann returns to Germany after sixteen years of exile in the United States and sets out on a difficult road journey with his daughter in a black Buick. The route carries them across a war-ravaged country, from Frankfurt under American dominance to Weimar under Soviet control, and the divisions they meet are as much inside their own family as in the nation around them.

The production

The drama runs for 82 minutes and is presented in black and white. Sandra Hüller and Hanns Zischler play the lead roles. It is a collaborative production involving four countries, Poland, Germany, Italy and France, which places it among the festival's international co-productions rather than a single-nation entry.

The festival circuit it comes from

‘Fatherland’ reaches Goa with a strong season behind it. The film travelled to major international festivals in 2026, among them Cannes, San Sebastián and Telluride, and it won Pawlikowski the Best Director Award at Cannes. For the director, the film continues a body of work that reads history and human relationships through intimate narratives set at turning points in European history.

The theme it opens

The organisers have presented the choice as a fitting start to this year's festival theme, ‘Stories Without Borders’, since the film's subject crosses geographical and cultural lines. The opening film, the theme, the festival edition and the dates are the four details to carry into the examination hall, with the Cannes award and the number of co-producing countries as the next layer of detail.