Who is Payal Kapadia, winner of Cannes Film Festival ‘All We Imagine as Light’

Payal Kapadia is a Mumbai-based filmmaker. She garnered international appreciation after winning the Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival for her film A Night of Knowing Nothing. At the time, this was the only Indian film to have won this award. 

She studied at FTII (Film and Television Institute of India) in Pune. In 2015, she protested against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the institute’s director. She mentions how there were repercussions, and the funding for her film was cut. The students protested the credibility and caliber of actor-turned-politician Gajendra Chauhan to head such a prestigious and renowned institution.

An article in Deadline points out the struggle to find production finances in the world’s biggest film industry wasn’t easy for Payal.

Le Grand Prix est attribué à ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT de PAYAL KAPADIA.
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The Jury Prize goes to ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT by PAYAL KAPADIA.#Cannes2024 #Palmares #Awards #GrandPrix pic.twitter.com/Ew5SfmFmvZ

— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) May 25, 2024

Cannes Film Festival 2024

One of the biggest film festivals in the world, hosted by the city of Cannes, France. The festival tends to create hype for the upcoming film festivals and award season. Kapadia’s film is India’s first entry in the competition in 30 years. The film won the Grand Prix, the second most prestigious award in the festival's competition section. On the other hand, Sean Baker’s Anora won the Palm d’Or.

Kapadia’s film, All We Imagine as Light, is a story of three women in Mumbai, and Ratnagiri and their exploration of love, desires, and sisterhood amidst the obvious conflicts of life, and urban metropolis. The film stars, Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam and Hridhu Haroon in central roles.

She has co-written the film with Ranabir Das, who is credited as the cinematographer for the film.

Her life

Kapadia, born in Mumbai to artist Nalini Malani, attended Rishi Valley School in Andhra Pradesh. She earned a Bachelor's in economics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, and completed a one-year Master's degree at Sophia College. She then studied film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India.

She has made six films, four of which are short. They can be watched on Vimeo, particularly Afternoon Clouds. The other two are feature lengths– one is a documentary which won at Cannes in 2021 as mentioned. They are namely,  (2014) Watermelon, Fish and Half Ghost (2015) Afternoon Clouds (2017) The Last Mango Before the Monsoon (2018) And What is the Summer Saying (2021) A Night of Knowing Nothing  (2024)All We Imagine as Light.

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