Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light‘s winning streak continues as it won the Best International Film award by the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC). But it all started at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024.
Not only did the movie win the Grand Prix award at Cannes, but it was also the first Indian film in 30 years to feature in the main competition section of the prestigious film festival. The last Indian movie to make it to the competition section was Shaji N Karun’s Swaham in 1994.
In an exclusive conversation with NDTV, the filmmaker was asked what the Grand Prix win meant for her and the movie.
“That was a very important moment for us with the movie, because Cannes is a festival that lot of different festivals look at. So, immediately it puts you on the map. So, that was, for us, something really incredible to win a prize there,” she said, emphasising on the impact the Cannes film festival has.
“It was already very cool to be selected, and then we won a prize. So, it just felt like a good start to this film,” she further said, with a laugh.
The movie also won Best International at the New York Film Critics Circle and the Best International Feature trophy at the reputed Gotham Awards 2024.
Payal bagged the Spirit of Cinema award at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) not long ago.
An official Indo-French co-production between Petit Chaos (France) and Chalk & Cheese and Another Birth (India), the film stars Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, and Hridhu Haroon, all hailing from Kerala.
