'All We Imagine As Light' first Indian film to compete at Cannes in 30 yrs

Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light has been selected for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in the "Competition" category

After a long wait of three decades, Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light has been selected for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in the prestigious "Competition" category.

Payal Kapadia's film will be competing for the coveted Palme d'Or alongside 19 others, including Kinds of Kindness by Yorgos Lanthimos, Megalopolis by Francis Ford Coppola, Oh Canada by Paul Scrader, Bird by Andrea Arnold, The Shrouds by David Cronenberg, and Anora by Sean Baker, according to a report in the Hindustan Times (HT).

At a press conference in Paris on Thursday, president of the festival, Iris Knobloch, and general-delegate Thierry Fremaux announced the nominations.

Directed by Shaji N Karun, Swaham was the last Indian film to enter the "Competition" category in 1994.

Before this, of all the Indian films that the 1983 Cannes Film Festival screened, Mrinal Sen’s Kharij bagged the "Special Jury" prize. Prior to that, films such as M S Sathyu's Garm Hava (1974), Satyajit Ray's Parash Pathar (1958), Raj Kapoor's Awaara (1953), V Shantaram's Amar Bhoopali (1952), and Chetan Anand's Neecha Nagar (1946) were chosen to participate in the "Competition" segment at Cannes. Neecha Nagar became the first Indian film to gain recognition at the Cannes, after it was awarded Palme d'Or.

According to the HT report, the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will start off with Quentin Dupieux's The Second Act. Additionally, the "Un Certain Regard" section will feature Santosh, a film by British-Indian filmmaker Sandhya Suri.

Previously, in 2021, Payal Kapadia's A Night of Not Knowing Nothing won the Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary playing in the Director’s Fortnight. In 2017, her film, Afternoon Clouds, was part of the Cinefondation section, which also takes place during the Festival along with the Critics' Week and Director’s Fortnight.

All We Imagine as Light follows the lives of Prabha and Anu, nurses from Kerala working at a nursing home in Mumbai. Prabha's life takes an unexpected turn when she receives a gift from her estranged spouse, while Anu, her roommate, seeks solitude for a romantic encounter with her boyfriend. Their journey to a coastal town prompts them to break away from the confines that have shaped their lives until now.

The 77th annual Cannes Film Festival will run from May 14 to May 25.