Payal Kapadia, director of All We Imagine as Light which won the prestigious Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival, issued a statement calling for equal access to public education and government support for independent filmmakers. Recalling how she and the women in her family had relative privilege to choose the field of study they wanted to pursue, Payal mentioned how the same privilege is not available to a lot of people in this country.
The award winning filmmaker mentioned how her time at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) was her “greatest learning.” Payal added, “FTII is a place that encourages independent thoughts. My classroom was so diverse! We didn’t always agree with each other on everything and it was in these differences we learnt from each other.”
Mentioning how this type of learning was possible through affordable public education, Payal said, “If we look at films being made in our country, you will always find someone in the crew who went to a public institute. Unfortunately, public universities are becoming more and more expensive nowadays. These spaces can only remain relevant and can encourage discourse if it remains accessible to all. If it becomes an elitist space like various public universities have become over the years, it will be useless to the nation.”
Speaking about her success at Cannes and wondering why it took 30 years for an Indian film to win an award, Payal asked why independent filmmakers are not supported more. She pointed out that France levies a small tax on every movie ticket sold and on TV channels, which creates resources for independent filmmakers and producers to apply funding from. Payal said charging audiences a tax in India might be unfair and suggested a tax on the profit made from blockbusters to create a fund for independent filmmakers.
Praising the Kerala government’s initiative to support women filmmakers and those from minority communities, Payal said it was the need of the hour. “There should be some autonomous system with representation that could give opportunities to filmmakers even if they know no one in the industry. Governments too should not be the producers but only facilitate funding. Independent producers should be able to apply to them,” she added.
Thanking the film industry in Kerala for being supportive of her team even though she is an outsider, Payal said, “In Kerala, even distributors and exhibitors are open to show more art house films. We live in a country where we are lucky to have so many cinemas. We should accept that many kinds of films can exist together.”
Concluding her statement, Payal said that she hopes whoever comes to power after the Lok Sabha elections should work to ensure every citizen has a right to the country’s resources. “The resources are also non-material, like cultural capital, education, and access to the arts. As citizens of the country, it is our responsibility to hold every government accountable for this,” she said.