The 56th International Film Festival of India has unveiled the 10 films competing for the ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal, an international honor that recognizes cinema promoting peace and inter-cultural dialogue.

Instituted at IFFI‘s 46th edition, the award is presented in collaboration with ICFT (International Council for Film and Television) Paris under the aegis of UNESCO, celebrating work that honors Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of non-violence and peace.

Leading the lineup is Iraqi filmmaker Hasan Hadi’s directorial debut “The President’s Cake,” which won both the Audience Award and Caméra d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight section. The film, selected as Iraq’s entry for the international feature Oscar at the 98th Academy Awards, follows nine-year-old Lamia in 1990s Iraq as she scrambles to bake the President’s birthday cake amid U.N. food sanctions and political unrest.

Also competing is Chilean auteur Sebastián Lelio’s musical drama “The Wave,” which premiered at Cannes. Loosely inspired by the 2018 Chilean feminist protests, the film follows university student Julia as she navigates a recent sexual assault within the context of a burgeoning movement.

Other contenders include Nadia Falls’ “Brides,” which premiered at Sundance and earned a grand jury prize nomination in the World Cinema Dramatic category. The British-Muslim coming-of-age drama follows two teenage girls who run away from troubled lives, confronting radicalization, identity and belonging.

Norwegian filmmaker Eirik Svensson’s “Safe House,” which won the Audience Dragon Award for best Nordic film at the Göteborg Film Festival, depicts 15 harrowing hours inside a Doctors Without Borders hospital during the 2013 Central African Republic civil war.

Kosovian filmmaker Ujkan Hysaj’s debut “Hana” makes its world premiere at IFFI, exploring an actor who joins an art-therapy program at a women’s rehabilitation center in Kosovo, helping war survivors transform pain into expression.

Iranian actor Ebrahim Amini’s directorial debut “K Poper,” which screens at Tallinn Black Nights, follows an Iranian teenage girl obsessed with a K-pop idol who dreams of traveling to Seoul despite her mother’s refusal.

Japanese auteur Kawase Naomi’s “Yakushima’s Illusion,” starring Vicky Krieps, premiered at Locarno with a Golden Leopard nomination. The existential drama follows a French transplant coordinator in Japan searching for her missing partner who has become a “Johatsu” — one of Japan’s thousands of annual disappearances.

Rounding out the selection are Anupam Kher’s “Tanvi the Great,” about a woman with autism who resolves to complete her deceased father’s dream of saluting the flag at Siachen Glacier; Praveen Morchhale’s Urdu-language drama “White Snow,” about a young filmmaker whose work is banned by a religious leader; and Jitank Singh Gurjar’s Toronto Netpac Award winner “Vimukt” (“In Search of The Sky”), a Braj-language film about an elderly couple taking their son with intellectual disabilities on a pilgrimage to Maha Kumbh festival.

The jury will be chaired by Ahmed Bedjaoui, artistic director of the International Film Festival of Algiers, alongside Xueyan Hun, vice-president of ICFT and director of the Platform for Creativity and Innovation; Serge Michel, vice president of UNICA; Tobias Biancone, former director-general of the International Theatre Institute; and Georges Dupont, director-general of ICFT and former senior international civil servant at UNESCO.