Looking Back at IFP Season 12

The IFP Season 12 Festival opened its gates on the 8th and 9th of October at Mumbai's Filmistan Studio. Thousands of creators and renowned artists flew in from all over the world to participate in this one-of-a-kind celebration of new-age contemporary culture and creativity.

In comparison to previous editions, this year's festival took a completely different turn. IFP intended for the festival to be more immersive, experience-driven and welcoming to a wide range of creators. When you walked through the gates, you would find the venue filled with filmmakers, digital creators, musicians, writers, designers, storytellers, podcasters, stand-up artists, photographers, advertisers, and more.

Inside the festival:

1. Diverse range of creative conversations

2. Live Performances.

3. Art Exhibitions.

4. Art Installation.

5. Open Mics

6. Fan Zones

7. Innovative brand experiences, and much more

The first day of the festival had sessions by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Richie Mehta, the illustrious Javed Akhtar, amazing orator Shashi Tharoor, prolific writer Amish Tripathi, and talented music director Sneha Khanwalkar, to name a few. The sessions ranged from discussions on religion in the 21st century to an engaging discourse on cinema vs content, making of the classic film Dead Poets Society, writing Indian mythologies in a compelling way and many others. The first day also included charismatic live performances by Kanishk Seth (Trio) and Raghav Meattle. Along with all the fun and frolic; heated and intellectual debates on liberalism vs fascism, whether RRR should’ve been sent to the Oscars, are Reels art or not, and other such topics were discussed. People also got to interact with their favorite speakers at the exclusive Fan Zones, created beside the Brand experience zone where innovative and unique brand activities were taking place. One of the key highlights at the fan zone was Anand Gandhi, who spoke to attendees personally even after his time had concluded, due to the overwhelming fanfare! The first day ended on a high note with the 50-Hour Music Challenge Award Ceremony, which was followed by the screening of the critically acclaimed film, The Worst Person In The World. Some of the other highlights also included an artist creating an iconic scene from The Lion King with just Rubik’s cube, and art installations including an India Gate constructed of bamboo.

The second day of the festival began with an overwhelming gusto, with a session by internet’s favorite Yashraj Mukhate, followed by the versatile Vijay Varma, veteran director R Balki, photographer extraordinaire Prashant Godbole and the talented Prajakta Koli, to name a few. The sessions on this day ranged from making music for the digital age to a panel on making Chup: Revenge of the Artist and Mismatched: Season 2, a roundtable of debutant directors who made commendable films this year to a session on how to not write a bad script by the one and only Jaideep Sahni.

Day 2 was also replete with performances by IFP’s previous storytelling and music winners. Also, there were performances from nominees of the inaugural 7-Day Standup Challenge, from which the presiding juries decided the winners! The day also had live performances from indie artists Hanita Bhambri and Rahgir. The festival came to a close with the much-awaited 50-Hour Filmmaking Challenge Award Ceremony. The winning films were shown at the award ceremony, and the victorious filmmakers were cheered by a crowd of thousands, a moment they will never forget!

Thousands of creators. Thousands of ideas.

The festival had several years' worth of creative exposure packaged into just 2 days!

You can get a glimpse of the IFP Season 12 Festival here.