Payal Kapadia’s ‘All We Imagine As Light’, historic winning film at the Cannes Film Festival 2024, will be released in theatres soon according to Sideshow, a production house that will help in the distribution of the film in North America. It was the first Indian film to feature in the festival’s main segment in 30 years. The last Indian movie to make it to the competition section was Shaji N Karun’s Swaham in 1994.
The film will be released in North America after its prestigious Grand Prix Award win at the Cannes Film Festival. Sideshow Films shared a post on X that read, “Payal Kapadia’s luminous ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT has won the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Coming soon to theaters. (sic)” Here is the post:
Payal Kapadia’s debut fiction feature ‘All We Imagine As Light’ on Saturday, May 25, won the Grand Prix Award at the Cannes Film Festival. On May 23, ‘All We Imagine As Light’ team danced their way to the Cannes screening. The film received an eight-minute standing ovation after the screening.
“India is proud of Payal Kapadia for her historic feat of winning the Grand Prix at the 77th Cannes Film Festival for her work ‘All We Imagine as Light’, Indian Prime Minister wrote on X. Actor-director Farhan Akhtar took to Instagram and wrote, “Heartiest congratulations #PayalKapadia and team #allweimagineaslight, first Indian film to win the Cannes Grand Prix.” Kiara Advani also extended heartfelt greetings to the team of All We Imagine As Light. “Congratulationsss,” she wrote.
‘All We Imagine As Light’, an Indo-French production, tells the story of a nurse named Prabha who receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband, causing disruption in her life.
The film is headlined by actors Divya Prabha, Kani Kusruti, Azees Haneefa, Hridhu Haroon, Lovleen Misra and Chhaya Kadam.
Chidananda S Naik’s Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know… Also won the first prize of La Cinef at Cannes. The Mysuru doctor-turned-filmmaker made the film at the end of his one-year course in the television wing of Pune’s Film and Television Institute of India. “Sunflowers…” is based on a Kannada folk tale about an old woman who steals a rooster.
The third prize of the La Cinef competition went to Mansi Maheshwari’s animation film Bunnyhood. Maheshwari, born in Meerut and an ex-student of NIFT Delhi, made the film as a student of UK’s National Film and Television School. The first prize for Naik is India’s second in five years. In 2020, Ashmita Guha Neogi won the award for her film CatDog.
The Cannes Film Festival awards a 15,000 euro grant for the first prize winner, 11,250 euros for the runner and 7,500 euros for the third prize recipient. The awarded films will be screened at the Cinema du Pantheon on June 3 and at the MK2 Quai de Seine on June 4.
Preity Zinta also presented the Pierre Angenieux ExcelLens in Cinematography honour to Santosh Sivan. She made her debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 when she attended the premiere of the films The Wind That Shakes The Barley and Paris, Je T’aime. Her last appearance at Cannes was in 2013, when she represented the luxury watch brand Chopard as its brand ambassador. And now after 17 years, the actress has now made her comeback to the annual prestigious film festival.