A still from 'All We Imagine as Light'
Payal Kapadia is an Indian film producer We imagine as light On Thursday it made history by becoming the first Indian award in 40 years to feature in the prestigious competition section of the Cannes Film Festival, where it will compete for the top prize Palme d'Or.
Cannes Festival President Iris Knobloch and General Delegate Thierry Frémaux announced the official selection line-up for the gala 2024 edition at a press conference broadcast live from Cannes, France.
Ms. Along with Kapadia, British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri Santosh The film gala will also be screened at the 77th edition. The movie will be screened under Un Certain Regard category.
Mrs. Kapadia's We imagine as light 19 other highly anticipated titles will be presented under the main section, including films by director Francis Ford Coppola (Megalopolis) and Yorgos Lanthimos (Types of Kindness)
Oh Canada By Paul Schrader, the bird By Andrea Arnold, Shrouds by David Cronenberg, and Anora Part of the main competition slate by Sean Baker.
An alumnus of the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII), Ms. Kapadia is best known for her acclaimed documentary film. A night of nothingnessIt premiered at the Directors' Fortnight side-bar of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Oil d'Or (Golden Eye) award.
We imagine as lightMs. Also written by Kapadia, this marks his narrative feature debut.
The film is about a nurse, Prabha, who receives an unexpected gift from her long-term husband, which turns her life upside down. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a private place in the big city to be alone with her boyfriend.
One day the two nurses go on a road trip to a beach town where a mystical forest becomes the place where their dreams manifest, according to the plot.
'The Big Moment'
Writer-lyricist Varun Grover and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap congratulated Ms. Kapadia on her selection.
“Huge moment for Indian cinema. Cracking the Cannes main competition for an Indian film is a very rare event that only happens once in a generation. Go Payal Kapadia and team!” Mr. Grover, who recently directed “All India Rank,” wrote in X.
Mr. Kashyap, who is a regular at Cannes, shared a screenshot of the announcement on his Instagram Stories.
Indian film congrats Payal Kapadia on @festivaldecannes competition! she captioned the post.
The last Indian film to compete for the coveted Palme d'Or award was by legendary filmmaker Mrinal Sen. Kharij In 1983. Before that, films like MS Satyu Hot weather (1974), Satyajit Ray Parash Pathar (1958), Raj Kapoor Are they (1953), V. Shantaram's Amar Bhupali (1952) and Chetan Anand A mean city (1946) was selected for the Cannes competition section.
A mean city It was the only Indian film to win the top honor at Cannes in 1946. At the time, the award was known as the Grand Prix du Festival Internationale du Film.
Mrs. Suri's Santosh It competes with 14 other films in Un Certain Regard, which runs parallel to the main competition.
The Hindi-language film is a character-driven neo-noir story set in the hinterlands of northern India, a UK-European co-production and starring Shahana Goswami.
Quentin Dupuis Act Two The opening image in the 77th edition.
The film gala will be held from May 14 to May 25.