The Story
OrganizerThe Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) was started in 2002 with the aim of building and promoting a healthy film culture in Pune, a city already home to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII, established 1960) and the National Film Archive of India (NFAI, established 1964) on the former Prabhat Film Company studio premises. The festival has run annually since, with the exception of 2004, and is chaired and directed by filmmaker Dr Jabbar Patel; its trustees include Satish Alekar, Mohan Agashe, Sabina Sanghvi, Ravi Gupta, Rajendra Kelshikar and Samar Nakhate. PIFF is organised jointly by the Pune Film Foundation, the Department of Cultural Affairs of the Government of Maharashtra, and Dadasaheb Phalke Chitranagari, Mumbai; the Government of Maharashtra formally recognised PIFF as its official festival in 2010. An International Competition section was introduced in 2005, and since 2006 the Government of Maharashtra has awarded the Sant Tukaram Best International Marathi Film prize, named for the 1936 Marathi film that was the first Indian entry screened at the Venice International Film Festival; PIFF describes itself as the only festival giving international recognition specifically to Marathi cinema. The 24th edition ran 15-22 January 2026, screening around 140 films with a Guru Dutt birth-centenary theme; a 25th edition is scheduled for 14-21 January 2027.
PIFF's significance lies substantially in its Marathi-cinema competition, which the festival positions as unique among Indian film festivals: an internationally judged competitive section specifically for Marathi-language film, awarded by the Government of Maharashtra under the Sant Tukaram award since 2006. This gives PIFF a distinct regional-cinema role alongside its broader World Cinema competition (the Prabhat Best International Film award, also government-funded). Its setting in Pune, home to FTII and NFAI, also connects the festival directly to India's institutional film-training and archival infrastructure in a way few other Indian festivals can claim, and its leadership by veteran Marathi theatre and film figures (Jabbar Patel, Satish Alekar, Mohan Agashe) ties it closely to Pune's own performing arts community rather than a purely commercial or civic-tourism framing.
PIFF is confirmed active and continuing: its 24th edition ran in January 2026, and its 25th edition is already scheduled for January 2027. Recent editions have screened films from more than 80 countries across roughly 7-8 days, with government-funded cash prizes reaching Rs 10 lakh for the top World Cinema award. For institutional and CSR audiences, PIFF is a useful example of a hybrid public-private model, jointly run by a private film foundation and two arms of Maharashtra state government, distinct from both purely commercial festivals and fully state-run ones like BIFFES. Its sustained, nearly unbroken annual run since 2002 (a single gap year in 2004) and its specific institutional role in promoting Marathi-language cinema internationally give it a durable, well-defined niche.
Championed Marathi cinema and brought world cinema to western India.
