India, Nov. 27 -- Thinking about cinema in Goa has always required a certain attentiveness because this festival has a way of slowing the mind while sharpening observation.

That attentiveness felt especially vivid this year. The news of Dharmendra's passing earlier in the week rested quietly over the festival grounds, shaping conversations and lending weight to the minute of silence at the Film Bazaar's closing ceremony.

It created an atmosphere where films, filmmakers and audiences carried themselves with a heightened awareness of artistic legacies and the fragile continuity that binds generations of cinema.

Across Panjim, screenings and press interactions revealed how filmmakers from Iran, Iraq, Assam, Bulgaria, Russia, Turkey, Mexic...