Payal Kapadia receives Grand Prix for All We Imagine As Light at Cannes Film Festival

Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light bagged the Grand Prix – the second-most prestigious award after the Palme d’Or – at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. Like Anasuya Sengupta, who earlier won the Best Actress Award in the Un Certain Regard category, Payal too created history for she is the first Indian to win the award.

All We Imagine As Night, which features Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha as Malayali nurses working in Mumbai, premiered on May 23. It got an eight-minute standing ovation following its debut. This Indo-French production delves into the life of Prabha (Kani Kasruti) who receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Meanwhile, her roommate Anu (Divya Prabha) finds a quiet spot with her lover. Ever since it premiered, the team received appreciation from the festival corners.

All We Imagine As Night is the first Indian film to enter the main competition after veteran filmmaker Shaji N Karun’s Swaham (My Own) 30 years ago. Payal’s film competed with 21 other films, including Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness, Sean Baker’s Anora, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megapolis, Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez, and others. Sean Baker’s Anora won the Palme d’Or this year.

Earlier, another Indian Anusuya Sengupta bagged the Best Actress Award in the Un Certain Regard at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. The award came for performance in Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov’s The Shameless.