Indian film selected for Cannes competition after 30 years

We do hear about Indian films being screened in Cannes almost every year. Anurag Kashyap in particular is one of the filmmakers who is known for showcasing his work in this annual film festival that takes place in the south of France.

One of the reasons why filmmakers do that is to introduce their work to distributors in Europe, in addition to giving the film a PR boost on its home turf India.

But after three decades, we have a film competing for the Palme d’Or (English for Golden Palm). The Palme d’Or is the highest prize awarded at Cannes and is considered as one of the highest honours a cinema can receive across the world.

Filmmaker Payal Kapadia will be competing this year for the Palme d’Or with her film “All We Imagine as Light.” The film will be premiering at the festival today. The last Indian film to get selected for this competition was Swaham (1994), a Malayalam film directed by Shaji N Karun.

Set in Mumbai, ‘All we imagine as light’ stars Kani Kusruti, Chhaya Kadam, Divya Prabha and Hridhu Haroon in lead roles. Kani and Divya play nurses who go on a trip of self-discovery in this Malayalam-Hindi film. All We Imagine as Light is Payal’s second film. She studied filmmaking in FTII and also went to The Rishi Valley school near Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh.