A scene from All We Imagine As Light.
Payal Kapadia may have missed her chance at the Oscars, but her acclaimed film All We Imagine As Light has been acknowledged by the Golden Globes.
It has received two nominations in the Best Director (Motion Picture) and Best Motion Picture (Non English Language Film) categories.
This marks the first time an Indian director has been nominated in the Director category.
Starring Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Chhaya Kadam, AWIAL is an Indo-French co-production between Petit Chaos from France and Chalk & Cheese and Another Birth from India.
The film follows Prabha, a troubled nurse who receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband, and Anu, her young roommate seeking intimacy with her boyfriend. A trip to a beach town allows them to confront their desires. The film stars Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Hridhu Haroon, all hailing from Kerala.
Earlier this year, the film created history by winning the prestigious Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.
AWIAL premiered at Cannes in its much-feted ‘competition section’ on May 23. It was the first Indian film to feature in the festival’s main segment in 30 years. The last Indian movie to make it to the competition section was Shaji N Karun’s Swaham in 1994.
AWIAL also won the Best International at the New York Film Critics Circle and the Best International Feature trophy at the Gotham Awards 2024.
A scene from All We Imagine As Light.
The film’s title has been taken from a 2016 painting of the same name by Kapadia’s mother, the celebrated painter Nalini Malini. In the painting, grey and red figures are shown fighting each together, with the text, ‘One day the streets all over the world will be empty. From every tomb I’ll learn all we imagine of light.’
In an interview with Rediff, Payal had explained why she chose this title for her film: “When I make films, it takes a long time. So over the years, some lines get stuck in your head. A Night of Knowing Nothing was the title of a poem. All We Imagine as Light is actually the title of one of my mother’s paintings. It stayed with me for a long time and I thought it really resonated with my thoughts in this film. So I borrowed it from her.”
A scene from All We Imagine As Light.
The prestigious Sight And Sound magazine hailed AWIAL the best film of 2024.
It has got Rediff’s thumbs up as well.
Sukanya Verma writes in her review, ‘With this just one 115-minutes long film, she packs in days of reflection, hours of insight and moments of joy. And light.’
Mayur Sanap calls it ‘exquisite’, adding, ‘In Payal Kapadia’s poetically titled All We Imagine As Light, the wonderful sense of place and real life feels refreshingly novel due to the tenderness with which the director paints her vision that finds beauty in the ordinary.’
The other nominees in the Best Director category include Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez, Sean Baker for Anora; Edward Berger for Conclave; Brady Corbet for The Brutalist; and Coralie Fargeat for The Substance.
The Golden Globes will stream live on Lionsgate Play on January 6, from 6:30 am IST.
With inputs from ANI.
