‘All We Imagine As Light’ director Payal Kapadia conferred with French honour for her contribution to cinema

Recounting her French connection, Kapadia said she met Thomas Hakim and Julien Graff of Petit Chaos soon after graduating from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. “I met Thomas and Julian when I had started making films independently. I was happy to have met such great collaborators from France. They introduced me to the wonderful French funding system for making films. This system supports the filmmakers at every stage of the production process,” said Kapadia.

Kapadia’s debut feature ‘All We Imagine As Light’ is an intimate film, set in Mumbai and a small coastal village of Maharashtra. It garnered global acclaim and clinched several prestigious awards including Best International Feature at Gotham Awards, Best International Film at New York Film Critics Circle and Best Film at Asian Film Awards. The film also secured two Golden Globes nominations and the nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language.

Over a period of time, Kapadia has also worked with several wonderful technicians from France. Her collaborators in France and India together form a big filmmaking family and she is happy to be part of it, she said. Kapadia has earlier received Golden Eye for best documentary for “A Night of Knowing Nothing’ (2021). She has also written and directed four short films including ‘Afternoon Clouds’ (2017) and ‘And What is the Summer Saying’ (2018).