Following her Grand Prix win at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, director Payal Kapadia talked to us about the genesis of All We Imagine As Light, the hurdles she overcame and her happiness at the film’s upcoming theatrical release.

All We Imagine As Light is releasing at theatres in India on November 22. How do you feel?

Payal Kapadia: We took a lot of time to make it. Finally, when it was shown and got the recognition it did, the nicest part is that I’m going to have the film released in India, across cities. And that is something that I’ve never had before. So, it’s been one of the nicest journeys, and that [theatrical release] is going to be its end.

What prompted you to tell the stories of two nurses of different ages living together? Is it derived from any real-life incident?

Payal Kapadia: When I started making the film, I was very interested in making a film about women and work. At that point, I felt that the nursing profession could traverse many questions I had about these subjects, and the hospital became an interesting space to talk about other women’s issues. That’s why I went ahead with the main protagonist being a nurse. I always feel like as a nurse, you have to not show your emotion and give a lot to the people – you work for the patients. But when you go home, all your concerns and your personal life can come to the forefront. So, the difference in the professional and private life of a character like Prabha, I felt, could be explored better if she was a nurse.

How did you zero in on Chhaya Kadam, Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha?

Payal Kapadia: I always admired Kani as an actress. I’ve been wanting to work with her for the past six-seven years. The first time I wrote the script, I was still a student at FTII; it was for my diploma project and I thought I’d make a film about a nurse in Mumbai. At that time, I thought Kani could play Anu, the younger nurse’s character because she was a very quirky, funny person. She would have been right for that character.

But then I took so long to make the film that both of us grew old. I still wanted to work with her because she’s such a fine artist that I said, ‘Can you try for the older nurse?’ She said yes, and we started working together.

For Anu, who’s played by Divya – I had seen Divya’s work in Mahesh Narayanan’s film Ariyippu i.e. Declaration, which was at the Locarno Film Festival two years ago. I became her fan after watching that. I was like, I just want to meet this girl. She really took it upon herself to embody Anu as a character because she’s actually older than the character. So, to do that, she had to completely change her mannerisms. She worked so hard for it that it was a privilege working with her.

I’ve been a fan of Chhayaji for years; I had seen her in Fandry 10 years ago in Pune. I was totally fida over her because she’s so good in that film. I was a bit afraid, thinking would she want to work with me? It’s my first film. But she was so nice and open, and she really heard me out. She’s also from Ratnagiri, the same place that Parvati is from. It made sense, and she also felt the same. I was happy.

The entire film has been shot in real locations. How did you achieve that?

Payal Kapadia: I was very keen to shoot in Mumbai because Mumbai is a character in the film. Shooting the film somewhere else wouldn’t have felt authentic. I was keen that we shoot in real locations to keep that alive as much as possible. Sometimes it was not possible because it’s very expensive to shoot in Mumbai.

We would shoot it like a documentary. I’m obsessed with what camera it is and this and that, so sometimes we would shoot with just a very simple DSLR because it was more important that we get the authenticity of the city rather than a very chakachak image. When you meet collaborators who are willing to try out different ways, things work out. We all kept in mind that the main feeling of the film is more important.

How did actor Rana Daggubati’s Spirit Media come on board to distribute your film?

Payal Kapadia: This is the first time my film is being distributed in India, and I’m really happy about that. I think because of the recognition we got internationally, we had a lot of people interested in the film. When I met the people from Spirit Media, they were very sensitive to the fact that this is not a very commercial movie that can be distributed in a standard way. They had made a very strategic plan thinking about the themes in the film and treating it with a lot of sensitivity and care. So, I felt that it would be in the right hands with Spirit.

How would you describe your journey through making All We Imagine As Light?

Payal Kapadia: I’ve been making this film since 2018. I was only applying for funding to make the film, so that I could have creative freedom to be able to make it. In other countries, you get a lot of grants to make films, and you have to apply for those. That’s what I was trying. In the middle, I made another film called A Night of Knowing Nothing, which was completed in 2021. After that, I had enough funding to make this film. So, in 2022, I started with the pre-production, the casting and the locations. I shot the film in 2023 and edited it in 2024.

How much do film festivals help in recovering the monetary aspects of filmmaking?

Payal Kapadia: The thing is that most of the funding that I got for All We Imagine As Light was through public funding and public TV channels in Europe. They recover their money through world sales. Film festivals like Cannes, besides being a festival to watch films, are mainly festivals where we can sell films to different countries and distributors. That way the people make their money. What is good for me as a director is that my film gets shown in many countries. It is the most joyous part.

Have OTT platforms helped indie films, or is it still the same?

Payal Kapadia: I think they have. I get to watch a lot of movies in India because of Mubi, Netflix and Prime Video. They really support independent movies. And I get to watch movies from other states with subtitles. I was waiting so badly to watch Mahesh Narayanan’s Ariyippu; I got to see it because Netflix bought it. I would have ideally liked to see it in a cinema but at least this way, I’m getting to see it. It’s good we have accessibility and opportunities to watch many things.

A filmmaker’s actual journey starts after the release of their first film. How do you plan on navigating your way forward?

Payal Kapadia: The only thing that I really love doing is making films. I just hope that this recognition that I’ve gotten will help me make more films in the future.

Do you have any tips for budding filmmakers?

Payal Kapadia: I could give a lot of tips but I think that a lot of times we end up looking too much towards the end goal, while actually it’s the process that’s very important. People tend to give up very easily when they face rejection or people say that this is not good enough. I think it’s important that we take those but not let them get us down. Just continue to work towards the end.