-Come and watch over 60 films..!
(Lanka-e-News -25.Dec.2025, 9.30 PM) For the 11th consecutive year, Jaffna International Cinema Festival (JaffnaICF) — the only international cinema festival in Sri Lanka — will be held from 30 December 2025 – 04 January 2026 in Jaffna.
JaffnaICF is a nonpartisan platform to explore contemporary forms of creative expression in cinema. The main aim of the festival is to celebrate independent cinema in the peninsula, whilst creating an understanding of other cultures, promoting harmony and mutual understanding through cinema. The festival promotes and encourages young filmmakers through screenings of their debut films and short films. The festival is presented by Agenda 14 in collaboration with Ceylon Theatres and the academic partner University of Jaffna.
The other partners of JaffnaICF 2025 are, Goethe-Institut, Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre - High Commission of India, British Council, Film Society - University of Jaffna, Kälam - A Space for Cultural Encounters, and Federation of Film Societies - Asia Pacific Section.
Main venues for the festival are Regal Cinemas-Cargills Square, Kälam - A Space for Cultural Encounters and Jaffna Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre.
The opening ceremony of the festival will be held at the Jaffna Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre on the 30th of December 2025 at 6.15 p.m.
The opening film of the festival is, ‘The Elysian Field’ by Pradip Kurbah (02:03:00 | 2025 | India).
Over 60 films will be screened at this year’s festival, including feature films, documentaries and short films. Participating countries are Australia, Bangladesh, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, UK, and USA.
This year the film retrospective is on the veteran filmmaker from India, Ritwik Ghatak, whose birth centenary is marked this year. A Masterclass on ‘The Life and Work of Ritwik Ghatak’ conducted by Prof. Ankuran Dutta, will be held on the 31st of December, 2025 at the Jaffna Thiruvalluvar Cultural Centre.
The 2005 Sri Lankan film Sulanga Enu Pinisa (The Forsaken Land) by Vimukthi Jayasundara, will also be screened at the festival marking 20 years since its release and winning the prestigious Caméra d'Or award at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
The festival will close on the 04th of January, 2026 at Regal Cinema, Cargills Square, Jaffna, with the film Sanda Dadayama (Moon Hunt) by Sri Lankan filmmaker Asoka Handagama. It will be the film’s world premiere.
Honouring the seniors and encouraging the young generation of filmmakers, the festival will present six awards. They are Lifetime Achievement Award, Best Debut Film, Best Documentary in New Asian Currents, Best International Short Film, Ceylon Theatres Award for the Best National Short Film and Audience Choice Award for the most popular short film.
This year the JaffnaICF will present the Lifetime Achievement Award to Premendra Mazumder in recognition of his multifaceted contributions to cinema. An activist of the film society movement since 1976, Premendra Mazumder was also the Asian Secretary of the International Federation of Film Societies (2010-12), Vice President of the Federation of Film Societies of India (2010-14) and General Secretary of the Federation of Film Societies of India (2014-16). He is the President of the Film Critics Circle of India and General Secretary of the Indian Film Critics Association. He also works as a consultant to several Indian and international film festivals around the world.
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by (2025-12-25 15:58:37)
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