The singular achievement of ‘All We Imagine As Light’ at Cannes
All We Imagine as Light wasn’t even supposed to be in Competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Payal Kapadia’s film was ‘upgraded’ from Un Certain Regard. The narrative was supposed to be about participation.
It was, after all, 30 years since an Indian film was in the running for the Palme d’Or, a stat which says more about Cannes’ incuriosity than about Indian cinema itself. Still, you could see how it was going to go: a respectful one-minute ovation at the end, a smattering of reviews by foreign critics marvelling at how this different it is from ‘Bollywood’, and, a few days later, homegrown op-eds about what this ‘really means’ for Indian cinema.It played towards the end of the festival. The ovation was eight minutes.
The initial reviews were ecstatic. Suddenly, the conversation was about awards—not just any, but the Palme. It almost happened too.
In the end, All We Imagine as Light won the Grand Prix, the festival’s second highest prize—a first for an Indian film. Just tracking the rapid escalation of fortunes over those two days from India was surreal; imagine how it must have felt for the cast and crew at the festival. “Please don’t wait 30 years to have another Indian film," Kapadia told Cannes in her acceptance speech.All We Imagine as Light’s award capped a spectacular year for India at Cannes.
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