Director Payal Kapadia's "All We Imagine As Light" has been selected as the best film of the year by prestigious Sight and Sound magazine that also voted "Anora", "La chimera", "Dahomey" and "Hard Truths" amongst its top five.
Kapadia's Cannes Grand Prix winner, voted by the magazine's contributors, is "about love, but one that takes a clear stance against Islamophobia and other religious, caste and class prejudices that constrict real people’s lives".
The magazine said there are more female than male directors in the top ten, a feat that has only happened once before, in the pandemic year of 2020, when there were seven women listed. This year the count is at six.
Kapadia, in a message to Sight and Sound team, shared her delight at her film being chosen as the best movie.
"Astounded, actually. And very grateful as well. We used to get a copy of Sight and Sound at our film school, the Film & Television Institute of India. We were all excited when the new edition came out and clamoured to read it. The magazine and its writers hold a special place in every cinephile’s heart," the director wrote.
The filmmaker said the first germ of the idea for "All We Imagine As Light" took shape in the final year at the institute. She had been in an out of hospitals and when it came to write her final year diploma film, she was drawn to explore the theme.
"But as I collected more material, I began to feel overwhelmed. The film seemed too daunting. In a hasty moment, I decided to abandon it," she recalled.
Kapadia said she returned to the movie's subject some years later with an approach to take one step at a time and a larger structure began to emerge.
"Working on a film is working out the chaos of your mind the best way you can, and making the film that has been keeping you up at night," she said, adding that now that the movie has released in India as well as many parts of the world, she feels overwhelmed with "how people have taken to it".
"It is a film made with the love of many collaborators, over many years – a handmade film. I can be only thankful and grateful towards those who treated it as their own. And now I thank you for also accepting it and treating it as your own as well," she wrote.
Other films that feature in the list include "Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World", "The Brutalist", "Emilia Pérez", "Perfect Days", "The Zone of Interest", "Evil Does Not Exist", "I Saw the TV Glow", "The Substance" and "Caught by the Tides" among others.
"All We Imagine As Light" was recently named the best international film by New York Film Critics Circle award as well as the Gotham Awards.
The Malayalam-Hindi film won the Jury Grand Prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) 2024 as well.
Kapadia's film released in Indian theatres on November 22 to positive reviews. Though it was not picked up by the selection committee in India to represent the country in the Oscars category, many in India are pinning their hope for the movie to garner recognition at the 2025 Academy Awards in general categories.
"All We Imagine As Light" is being distributed in the US by Janus Films and Sideshow. Rana Daggubati's Spirit Media released the film across India.
Starring Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Chhaya Kadam, Kapadia's film explores love, longing and loneliness in the bustling city of Mumbai through three women, two Malayali nurses -- Prabha and Anu -- and their friend Parvati.
Prabha's life is thrown in disarray when she receives a rice cooker from her husband who is in Germany. Anu is struggling to find a private spot in the city to be with her boyfriend. Prabha's best friend Parvati , a widow, is being forced out of her home by property developers.
Kiran Rao and Aamir Khan production's "Laapataa Ladies" (Lost Ladies), a feel-good drama exploring themes of independence, will represent India at the Oscars in the international film category.
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