Following a glorious legacy of thirteen successful seasons, IFP, one of the world’s leading festivals for all things creativity x culture, achieved yet another landmark feat with its fourteenth edition. Boasting an astounding footfall of more than fifteen thousand (15K), the two-day festival emerged as the ultimate multi-disciplinary celebration of creativity by bringing renowned figures from various creative fields under one roof on October 12 and 13, 2024, at Mehboob Studios, Mumbai. The latest season broadened IFP’s horizons like never before, serving as a one-stop destination for talent across Films & OTT, Music, Literature & Writing, Storytelling, Photography, Design & Art, and Comedy, among other disciplines, with an eclectic array of sessions, workshops, masterclasses, live performances, mixers, debate rings, and challenges.
IFP Season 14 Day 1 commenced with a bang, hosting celebrated Hollywood actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt on his first visit to India. Gordon-Levitt flew down to our shores especially to attend the festival as an Opening Speaker, joined by Rajkummar Rao, for a scintillating session – ‘Festival Opener: On Mastering the Art of Embodying a Character & Building HitRecord’. This was followed by a string of stimulating and diverse sessions, including ‘Producers Roundtable: On What It Takes to Make a Good Film’ with Aparna Purohit, Guneet Monga, and Ronnie Lahiri, ‘Making of an Auteur’ with Vidhu Vinod Chopra, ‘On Bringing Comedy Back in Vogue’ with Rajesh A Krishnan and Kunal Kemmu, ‘Select Conversations: Making of Man Woman Man Woman’ with Naseeruddin Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Imaad Shah, Sanah Abbott, and Tarun Dhanrajgir, ‘The Comic Battle: Anybody can Boing!’ with Aparshakti Khurana and Sayani Gupta, ‘Inside the Mind of a Music Supervisor’ with Ankur Tewari and Dot, ‘Aesthetics of the Gram: Vertical Cinema’ with Maroof Culmen, Dolly Singh, Sejal Kumar, and Mansi Ugale, ‘Journey of a Joke’ with Saurabh Shukla and Abish Mathew, and ‘Crew Cut’ with Jim Sarbh, Zoya Hussain, and Bosco-Caesar.
Building on an eventful first day, IFP Season 14 Day 2 opened with an insightful session about all things filmmaking – ‘On Crafting Subtlety in Cinema’ with two-time National Award-winner Shoojit Sircar. This session marked the beginning of a stellar lineup, which included ‘Qisse with Kopal’ featuring Sharvari Wagh and Kopal Khanna, ‘Many Shades of Kartik Aaryan’ with the national heartthrob himself, ‘On Subverting Narratives’ with Chhaya Kadam, ‘Collaborative Creation: Harnessing AI in Art and Cinema’ with Rob, Kabir Khan, and Toosid, ‘Making of a Modern Pulp’ with Kanika Dhillon and Taapsee Pannu, ‘Walking the Golden Road’ with William Dalrymple, ‘Musicians Who Broke the Internet’ with Nikhita Gandhi, Sai Abhyankkar, Yashraj, and Chaar Diwaari, ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ with Sparsh Shrivastava, Tanya Maniktala, Abhay Verma, and Pratibha Ranta, and ‘Brut Generation’ with Aditi Rao Hydari, to name a few.
In addition to engaging sessions, workshops, and masterclasses, the winners of the 50-hour challenges across filmmaking, music, design, performing arts, writing, and photography were also felicitated on the IFP Season 14 stage. Notably, 54,000 creative minds from across the globe participated in these signature IFP challenges. They got a unique opportunity to not only attend the festival but also share their work with like-minded individuals – with their artistic creations being on full display. But that’s not all! In these two days, IFP Season 14 also hosted Debate Rings across categories such as Film, Music, Comedy, Advertisement, Social Media, Literature, Tech, and many more, as well as a host of exciting Mixers, Open Mics, and Live Acts that reflected the true spirit of the festival.
Reflecting on Season 14, Ritam Bhatnagar, Founder, IFP, expressed, “We are thrilled to announce that the fourteenth season of IFP has been truly extraordinary, marking a significant milestone in the festival’s history. Over the past thirteen years, we have consistently witnessed exceptional engagement from both participants and attendees. This year, however, surpassed our highest expectations. A standout moment was the inaugural visit of acclaimed actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt to India specifically for IFP. Furthermore, remarkable speakers from various creative fields greatly enriched the conversations. It’s worth noting that participants from 42 countries and attendees from 9 countries joined us, making this a truly global festival.”