Payal Kapadia’s debut feature film All We Imagine As Light, which won the Grand Prix award at Cannes 2024, failed to get a nod at the 97th Oscars, the nominations for which were announced by The Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences on Thursday.
After failing to get nominated as India’s official entry for the Oscars, All We Imagine As Light ran an independent campaign for all the categories, including best picture, director and best original screenplay.
The Film Federation of India chose Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies as India’s Oscar entry over All We Imagine As Light. But Rao’s satirical film on patriarchy in rural India failed to make it to the Oscar shortlist unveiled in December, 2024.
All We Imagine As Light premiered at the 2024 Cannes International Film Festival, where it won the prestigious Grand Prix award in May last year. It also took home the award for best international film at the Florida Film Critics Circle and earned two nominations — best foreign language film of the year and best film of the year — at the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards.
Kapadia’s film was named best international feature film at the 2024 Gotham Awards, New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles , Chicago Film Critics Association, San Diego Film Critics Society, Phoenix Critics Circle, Toronto Film Critics Association, Lumiere Awards and Asia Pacific Film Awards.
All We Imagine As Light was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards, including best film not in English language and best director.
Set in Mumbai, the slice-of-life drama explores the lives of three working women. Nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) faces an emotional turmoil when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband, while her younger roommate Anu (Divya Prabha) struggles to find a private space for her relationship with a Muslim man (Hridhu Haroon). Their paths cross in a transformative journey to a coastal town, where they seek solace and closure.