Cannes-winner All We Imagine As Light to release in Kerala on September 21

Interestingly, All We Imagine As Light — which is an official Indo-French co-production between Chalk and Cheese Films from India and Petit Chaos from France — was earlier among the four films shortlisted by France along with Jacques Audiard’s ‘Emilia Perez’, Matthieu Delaporte’s ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ and Alain Guiraudie’s ‘Misericordia’. Yesterday, ‘Emilia Perez’ was selected to represent France in the race for the Best International Film Award at the Oscars. Now, many are hopeful that the film, which is considered to be the frontrunner in the International Film category at the Academy Awards, will be selected as India’s official submission for the Oscar award.

Rana Daggubati, whose Spirit Media acquired the film for distribution in India, said: “We are proud to be able to bring this incredible film to audiences in India, starting with Kerala where the two leading characters of the story are from. Indian cinema has a rich legacy of storytelling, and this film captures the Indian experience through characters speaking multiple languages coming from different parts of the country with similar shared dreams to a metropolis like Mumbai.”

Watch All We Imagine As Light trailer:

The Malayalam-Hindi feature is the story of nurse Prabha, whose routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend. A trip to a beach town allows them to find a space for their desires to manifest. The cast of the Malayalam-Hindi movie features Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, Hridhu Haroon and Azees Nedumangad.

All We Imagine As Light made history earlier this year at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it became the first Indian film ever to win the prestigious Grand Prix. It was also the first Indian film in over 30 years to be selected for the Main Competition of the Cannes Film Festival, apart from Kapadia becoming the first Indian female filmmaker ever chosen for this competition. ‘All We Imagine as Light’ competed for the Palme d’Or Award along with the newest works of high-profile directors such as Andrea Arnold, Francis Ford Coppola, Jia Zhang-Ke, Paolo Sorrentino, Sean Baker and Ali Abbasi.

Spirit Media has the exclusive rights to distribute the film in India. The Indian producers for the film — Zico Maitra, Chalk and Cheese Films, and Ranabir Das, Another Birth — are based in Mumbai. They have been on the journey with Kapadia over the last five years in bringing the film to life.