Payal Kapadia's 'All We Imagine As Light' Becomes First indian Film To Win Grand Prix

‘All We Imagine as Light’ received the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film festival 2024 on Saturday.

Payal Kapadia's mesmerizing drama ‘All We Imagine as Light’ received the Grand Prix at the 2024 Cannes Film festival on Saturday, writing her name into cinematic history. This film, which follows two nurses from kerala who find themselves in modern-day Mumbai, made history as the first indian film to participate in the main category at Cannes in 30 years. 

At the festival's closing night awards event, filmmaker Payal Kapadia was seen alongside Kani Kusruti, divya Prabha, and Chhaya Kadam, among others, from the film's cast. 

While winning the prize, Kapadia pleaded with the audience, saying, "Please don't wait another 30 years to have an indian film." The last indian film to compete for the Palme d'Or was ‘Swaham’, a rural-set masterpiece directed by malayalam filmmaker Shaji N Karun in 1994.

Presented during the 77th annual festival's closing ceremony, the Grand Prix award is the second most revered honor after the Palme d'Or, 'All We Imagine As Light' was the lucky recipient. The film  'All We Imagine As Light' received one of the biggest standing ovations of the festival this year—eight minutes—following its screening on May 23.

Among the films that were presented during the ceremony were ‘All We Imagine As Light’, the latest feature from ‘Yorgos Lanthimos’, ‘Paolo Sorrentino’, ‘Francis ford Coppola’, and ‘Paul Schrader’. Several notable figures, including Barbie director Greta Gerwig, Lily Gladstone, Hirokazu Koreeda, Eva Green, Omar Sy, and Ebru Ceylan, were members of the jury at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

About Payal Kapadia

Payal Kapadia studied filmmaking at India's prestigious Film & television Institute of india (FTII). She gained fame with her critically praised documentary ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing’, which was shown at the Director's Fortnight side-bar of the 2021 Cannes Film festival and received the prestigious Oeil d'Or (Golden Eye) prize.