All We Imagine as Light

Join us in the cinema for Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Grand Prix-winning film, which was the first Indian film in the main competition at Cannes for 30 years.

Two nurses share an apartment in bustling Mumbai; both having separately relocated there from the Kerala region for work.

Anu (Divya Prabha) spends her spare time with her Muslim boyfriend – a clandestine relationship she hides from her friends and colleagues. Her flatmate Prabha (Kani Kusruti) finds herself quietly and increasingly estranged from her husband who lives abroad.

When a domestic gift arrives by post it becomes a catalyst for change.

Curator’s Note
As the title suggests, Payal Kapadia’s award-winning film has a weight and depth that belies a deceptive lightness and calmness of tone. Essentially a relationship drama, it astutely observes the ways that even romantic relationships in India are political.

A follow-up to Kapadia’s brilliant documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing (2021) which deals with Indian politics more overtly, All We Imagine as Light is Kapadia’s debut narrative feature, focusing more on desires that are consciously unspoken.

The film premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it received the Grand Prix, and it earned two Golden Globe nominations (Best Non-English Feature and Best Director). Sadly, the film was not submitted as India’s official entry for the Academy Awards.

– Reece Goodwin, Senior Programmer (Film & Screen Industry)