A still from ‘All We Imagine Is Light’
By Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia We think of everything as light. On Thursday, it made history by becoming the first Indian title in 40 years to enter the prestigious in-competition section of the Cannes Film Festival, where it will compete for the Palme d’Or, the top prize.
Cannes Festival President Iris Knobloch and General Delegate Thierry Fremaux announced the official selection lineup for the gala’s 2024 edition at a press conference broadcast live from Cannes, France.
Apart from Ms. Kapadia, British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri Santosh The film will also be screened at the 77th edition of the gala. The film will be screened under the In Certain Regards section.
Ms. Kapadia’s We think of everything as light. 19 other highly anticipated titles will be presented under the main section, including films from master director Francis Ford Coppola (Megalopolis) and Yorgos Lanthimos (Kindly please).
Oh Canada By Paul Schrader, the bird By Andrea Arnold, The Shroud By David Cronenberg, and Anura by Sean Baker are also part of the main competition slate.
An alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Ms. Kapadia is best known for her popular documentary film. The night of not knowing anythingwhich premiered at the Directors Fortnight sidebar of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Oeil d’or (Golden Eye) award.
We think of everything as light.Also written by Ms. Kapadia, is the first sign of her narrative prowess.
The film is about Prabha, a nurse, who receives an unexpected gift from her long-estranged husband that throws her life into chaos. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a private place in the big city to be alone with her boyfriend.
According to the plot line, one day the two nurses go on a road trip to a coastal town where the mysterious forest becomes the place to manifest their dreams.
‘Big Moment’
Writer-lyricist Varun Grover and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap congratulated Ms. Kapadia on the selection.
“Huge moment for Indian cinema. It’s such a rare occurrence for an Indian film to crack the main competition at Cannes that it only happens once in a lifetime (if at all). Go Payal Kapadia and team!” Mr Grover, who recently made his directorial debut “All India Rank”, wrote on X.
Mr Kashyap, who is a regular at Cannes, shared a screenshot of the announcement on his Instagram stories.
Congratulations Payal Kapadia, Indian film in competition at @festivaldecannes! He captioned the post.
The last Indian film to compete for the Palme d’Or award was by legendary filmmaker Mrinal Sen. external In 1983 Before that, movies like MS Satheo. hot air (1974), by Satyajit Ray Prash Stone (1958), Raj Kapoor The wanderer (1953), by V. Shantaram Amar Bhopali (1952) and by Chetan Anand Nicha Nagar (1946) was selected for the Cannes competition segment.
Nicha Nagar It is the only Indian film ever to win the top honor at Cannes in 1946. At the time, the award was known as the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film.
Ms. Suri’s Santosh Un Certain Regard will compete with 14 other films, which run parallel to the main competition.
The Hindi-language film, a character-driven neo-noir story set in the hinterlands of northern India, is a UK-European co-production and stars Shahana Goswami.
Quentin Dupaix Second Act It is the opening film of the 77th edition.
The film gala will run from May 14 to May 25.