Filmmaker Mira Nair will receive the Film and Beyond Award at the Geneva International Film Festival, which runs from 30 October to 8 November with more than 110 works from 46 countries. The honour recognises a career that has moved between continents, industries and formats for four decades.
Nair’s films, from Salaam Bombay! to The Namesake and Queen of Katwe, have repeatedly examined migration, identity and the ties between communities and places. The festival will also screen the television adaptation of A Suitable Boy as part of a programme spanning cinema, series and immersive work.
Beyond directing, Nair founded the Salaam Baalak Trust, which supports street-connected children in India, and Maisha Film Lab, a training initiative for emerging filmmakers in East Africa. She received the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian honours, in 2012.
The festival’s 32nd edition includes new work from Mike Leigh, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Radu Jude and Lukas Dhont, and opens with an animated family drama about Alzheimer’s. More than two-thirds of the programme consists of Swiss, international or world premieres.
This year’s edition also marks a leadership transition, with new co-directors taking over in August and a move to a new venue planned for 2027. French screenwriter Fanny Herrero, creator of Call My Agent!, will be a second featured guest with a retrospective and on-stage conversation.
For festival executives, the programming signals where the market is heading: prestige cinema, serialised storytelling and immersive formats sharing one bill, with established auteurs used to draw audiences towards newer voices.
