In a disappointment to the makers of All We Imagine as Light, France’s Oscar Committee has nominated Emilia Perez over the Payal Kapadia directorial. Though the makers have suffered a significant setback, all opportunity is not lost as the Indian Oscar Committee can nominate the film to the Academy Awards considering it fulfills the requisite criteria.
All We Imagine as Light was one of the four films shortlisted by France alongside Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Misericordia.
Though All We Imagine as Light is an Indian film where the story takes place in Kerala and Mumbai, France could nominate the film for the Oscars, as it was produced by Julian Graff, a French national. The film is a product of Indo-French collaboration between Chalk and Cheese Films from India and petit chaos from France.
According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the country that submits a film must be able to prove that creative control of the film was largely in the hands of citizens or residents of that country.
All We Imagine as Light stars actors Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Khadam and Hridhu Haroon. The film tells the story of two Kerala women in Mumbai. It won the prestigious Grand Prix Cannes at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, thereby becoming the first Indian film to be screened at the prestigious film festival in the last 30 years.
Spirit Media, the production house owned by actor Rana Daggubati of Baahubali fame, has acquired the exclusive rights to distribute the movie in India. And the Indian committee can still nominate the film to the Academy Awards if the production house releases the film in at least a few theatres – a requisite for the nomination.
And according to latest news reports, Rana’s production house has already decided to release the film in Kerala on Saturday in limited screens. The Indian title of the movie is Prabhayay Ninachathellam (Malayalam).
While the initial plan is to seek qualification for the Oscars race, the production house plans to release the film across all the major Indian cities shortly.