Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo reviewed preparations for the four-day festival and called for close coordination among departments and agencies to ensure a seamless experience for filmmakers, artistes, delegates and audiences.

India leads the country-wise participation with 64 films, followed by France with 13 and Iran with eight. Argentina and Spain will contribute four films each, while Brazil, Germany, Russia and the US have three films each. Films from South Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, Qatar, Colombia and Türkiye will add to the festival’s international line-up.

A key highlight is the ₹96 lakh prize purse across nine categories. The Best Film award carries ₹25 lakh, while Best Director and Best Debut Film of a Director will receive ₹15 lakh each. The Best Film-J&K Select category carries a ₹10 lakh prize.

The festival will also feature a three-day Master Class series with filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, editor Namrata Rao, sound designer Baylon Fonseca and National School of Drama’s Chittranjan Tripathi, among others.

The five-member jury includes director-cinematographer Santosh Sivan, sound designer Resul Pookutty, German curator-journalist Dorothee Wenner, Japanese documentary filmmaker-producer Keiko Bang and National Award-winning director Himanshu Sekhar Khatua.