- The National Indian Film Festival of Australia 2026 concluded with events in Brisbane and the Gold Coast
- Tighee, Courage, Gottipua, Beybaar, and Khwabeeda won top awards at NIFFA 2026
- Producers of winning films are Australian-trained graduates shaping Indian independent cinema
The National Indian Film Festival of Australia (NIFFA) has wrapped its landmark 2026 edition with a grand finale across Brisbane and the Gold Coast, confirming its place as the world's biggest celebration of Indian cinema outside India, and one of the most significant cultural platforms Indian films now have anywhere overseas.
Jeejivisha Kale's acclaimed Marathi drama Tighee (Motherhood) (Best Indie Feature), Ankur Arun Kakatkar's Mumbai-set love story Courage (Best International Indie Feature), Chintan Kamlesh Parekh's world-premiere documentary Gottipua: Beyond Borders (Best Documentary), and Beybaar and Vishal Tiwari's Khwabeeda (Best Short Film, courtesy Pocket Films) bagged the top honours at the festival.
In a connection that goes to the heart of NIFFA's mission, the producers of both winning features are graduates of Australian film education. Part of a growing generation of screen professionals trained in Australia like the famous Vanga Reddy, who are now shaping independent Indian cinema.
India's screen community was at the centre of the celebrations.
Anubhav Sinha and Leena Yadav received NIFFA's Nishtha Awards, veteran trade analyst Komal Nahta received the Vimarsh Samman, and earlier in the festival Anupam Kher was honoured with the Indian International Cinema Icon Award.
The finale became a serious forum on the future of India-Australia screen collaboration and the opportunities opened by the co-production treaty - a pathway of growing relevance to Indian producers.
Spanning more than 13 cities, 32-plus films and 15 Indian languages across over 200 screenings, red carpets, workshops, masterclasses and special presentations, NIFFA 2026 made history by carrying Indian cinema across Australia's major capitals, regional centres and the outback in a way no Indian film platform in Australia has done before. The appetite for Indian storytelling now extends well beyond traditional diaspora centres, into some of the country's most iconic landscapes and civic spaces.
The 2026 edition drew unprecedented institutional backing on both sides of the Indian Ocean. In Australia, support came from Screen Queensland, Destination NSW, Screen NSW, the City of Perth, Creative Industries WA and the City of Brisbane, Indian community organisations in every state, and a major two-year commitment from the Northern Territory Government through Tourism and Events NT and Screen Territory - with regional partners such as RADO in Broken Hill and the Araluen Arts Centre in Alice Springs carrying the festival far beyond the metropolitan circuit. From India, the festival was supported by the NFDC, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, NDTV and Pocket Films among others, along with the support of India's diplomatic posts across Australia - a two-way endorsement that underlines NIFFA's standing as a genuine bridge between the two industries, not merely a diaspora event.