The first Indian film to compete for the Palme d’Or at the prestigious Cannes Festival in 30 years, All We Imagine as Light, won the Grand Prix, the second biggest award at the festival after the Palme d’Or. American comedy drama Anora made by Sean Baker won the Palme d’Or. The last Indian film to compete at the Cannes for the award was Shaji N Karun’s Swam in 1994.

All We Imagine as Light, telling the story of two Malayali nurses living in Mumbai, is written and directed by Payal Kapadia, the filmmaker who has previously won the best documentary award for her film A Night of Knowing Nothing at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Payal, receiving the award in the company of her three main actors – Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, and Chhaya Kadam – turned emotional as she pulled the women closer and said that they had given so much and made the film their own. Kani, who created waves by carrying a watermelon-shaped bag in solidarity with the Palestinian cause at the festival earlier, was in tears on the stage.

“Please don’t wait 30 years to have another Indian film [in the competition here],” Payal said with a smile, thanking her producers and her whole crew. The film, she said, is about the friendship between three very different women. 

“Oftentimes women are pitted against each other and this is the way the society is designed and that is really unfortunate. For me it is a really important relationship because it can lead to greater solidarity, inclusivity and empathy towards each other. These are values that I feel we should always stand for,” Payal said.

Payal was slapped with disciplinary action in 2015 for protesting against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the head of the Film and Television Institute of India. The FTII had also cut her grant.

In the first edition of the annual Cannes Film Festival, in 1946, Neecha Nagar, a Hindi film made by Chetan Anand, won the Palme d’Or. So far, it remains the only Indian film to have won the recognition.