The Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) is a festival organised in the city of Chennai

Chennai

Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...

 by the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation (ICAF) with the support of the Government of Tamil Nadu

Government of Tamil Nadu

The Government of Tamil Nadu, headquartered at Chennai is the governing authority for the Indian State of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at the Fort St. George...

, the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce

South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce

South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, abbreviated as SIFCC, is a South Indian film producers, distributors and exhibitors association, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It consists of the Andhra Film Chamber of Commerce, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, Kerala Film Chamber of...

 and the Film Federation of India

Film Federation of India

The Film Federation of India is an apex body of the Indian producers , distributors , exhibitors and studio owners, headquartered in Mumbai....

.

The festival aims at (from the official website):

providing a common platform for the film fraternity to show its expression through films; understand other cultures and project the excellence of this art form; contribute to the understanding and appreciation of film cultures of different nations in the context of the social and cultural ethos; and promote friendship and co-operation among peoples of the world.

The festival has been organised since the year 2002. It showcases Indian language as well as international language feature films. The Indian language films are divided into the Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

(around 12 films) and the Indian panorama feature films (around 12 films). The festival screens around 120 international feature films.

The CIFF provides Awards in the following categories:

1. Best film in Tamil competition
2. Second Best film
3. Best Director
4. Special Jury Award for individual excellence
5. Special award for independent films
6. Online Film buff Award