iWorld
In a first, major OTT platforms to participate in IFFI
Mumbai: The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will see participation from major OTT platforms, for the first time in its history. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Zee5, SonyLIV, and Voot will participate at IFFI that is being held in Goa starting 20 November.
The festival will offer exclusive masterclasses, content launches, previews, and much more. The 52nd edition of IFFI will be held in hybrid format considering the present Covid-19 situation.
Netflix has organised a three-day virtual masterclass by the Paris-based renowned school of image and arts, Gobelins – School L’image. It facilitated the India premiere of the film “The Power Of The Dog” by Jane Campion, a special screening of the film “Dhamaka” including an introduction of the film by Karthik Aryan and a preview of the first episode of its upcoming crime thriller series “Aranyak” starring Raveena Tandon and Ashutosh Rana. SonyLIV is organising a masterclass by “Scam 1992” screenplay writers Sumit Purohit and Saurav Dey.
The union minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur announced that actor and member of parliament from Mathura Uttar Pradesh Hema Malini and lyricist and chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) Prasoon Joshi will be conferred the Indian film personality of the year award 2021 at the festival.
IFFI will feature 148 films from about 73 countries in the international section. The festival will have about 12 world premieres, about 7 international premieres, 26 Asia premieres, and about 64 India premieres. IFFI received 624 films from 95 countries this time, up from 69 countries in the previous edition.
Global cinematic giants Martin Scorsese and Istevan Szabo are being honoured with the first Satyajit Ray lifetime achievement award. They will not be attending the festival physically but their video messages conveying acceptance of the award will be played.
The opening feature film of Indian Panorama 2021 is the film “Semkhor,” directed by Aimee Baruah. This is the first-ever film made in Dimasa (dialect from Assam) to be featured at IFFI. “The Visionary” (English) directed by Shri Rajiv Parkash is the opening non-feature film in the Indian Panorama section. “The King of all the World” (El Rey de Todo El Mundo) directed by Carlos Saura will be the opening film and this will also be the film’s international premiere. IFFI 52 will come to a close with the screening of Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero,” which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.
There will be about 18 specially curated films presented as part of the ongoing celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. The festival director informed that the international jury chaired by the Iranian filmmaker Rakhshān Banietemad is coming to attend the festival. The BRICS Film Festival is being held on the sidelines of IFFI for the first time. There will be a special package presenting films from the five countries.
The 52nd edition of IFFI is paying homage to the prominent Kannada film actor Puneet Rajkumar and iconic James Bond actor Sir Sean Connery.
IFFI will open with a star-studded inaugural ceremony, featuring Salman Khan, Ranveer Singh, Riteish Deshmukh, Genelia Deshmukh, Shraddha Kapoor, amongst others. Karan Johar and Manish Paul will host the event.
iWorld
X launches XChat messaging app on iOS with calls and encryption
Standalone app marks shift from “everything app” vision, adds E2E messaging.
MUMBAI: From one big app to many small chats, X seems to be splitting its ambitions. X has rolled out its standalone messaging app, XChat, to iOS users, opening up a new front in its evolving product strategy. The app allows users to connect with existing X contacts through private and group messages, file sharing, as well as audio and video calls. The launch follows a limited beta phase, where the platform tested the product with a smaller user base to refine the experience. Now available publicly, XChat marks a notable pivot from earlier ambitions championed by Elon Musk to turn X into a single “everything app” combining messaging, payments, commerce and more.
Instead, the company under xAI ownership and backed by SpaceX appears to be building a suite of standalone applications, each targeting specific use cases while expanding its broader ecosystem.
At launch, XChat includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, PIN-based access, disappearing messages, and features such as message editing, deletion for all participants, and screenshot blocking. The company has also said the app is free from advertisements and tracking mechanisms, positioning it as a privacy-first alternative in a crowded messaging space.
However, security claims around the platform are likely to face scrutiny. Earlier iterations of XChat drew criticism from experts who argued it fell short of established encrypted platforms like Signal. With the wider rollout, the app is expected to undergo fresh evaluation to assess whether those concerns have been addressed.
Beyond messaging, XChat will also house X’s Communities feature, which is being discontinued on the main platform due to low usage and spam concerns. Migrating these users could provide an early boost to adoption, effectively turning XChat into both a communication and community hub.
The move underscores a broader recalibration at X less about cramming everything into one app, and more about spreading bets across multiple touchpoints, one message at a time.
