 "When Cannes winner Payal Kapadia lost her scholarship and had a FIR for a protest against...")
Filmmaker Payal Kapadia on Saturday scripted history as her spellbinding drama All We Imagine as Light won the Grand Prix award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
The film bagged the award, which is the second-most prestigious prize of the festival after the Palme d’Or, during the closing ceremony of the 77th edition.
The Film and Television Institute of India tweeted to congratulate the filmmaker for the honor and wrote- “As we witness a phenomenal year for Indian Cinema at 77th Cannes Film Festival, FTII cherishes the glorious achievements of its Alumni at this Mega International Stage of Cinema.”
However, back in 2015, when actor-politician Gajendra Chauhan was appointed as the institution’s president, she led a four-month long protest against the appointment. This led to the cancellation of her scholarship and a FIR against her.
Replying to FTII’s tweet, Ali Fazal wrote- “Please don’t. Just don’t.”
Kapadia’s feature directorial debut, which screened on Thursday night and has received glowing reviews in the international press, already registered its name in the history books after it became the first Indian film in 30 years and first ever by an Indian female director to be showcased in the main competition.
The screening of the film received an eight-minute standing ovation from the audience members.
All We Imagine as Light , a Malayalam-Hindi feature, is about Prabha, a nurse, who receives an unexpected gift from her long estranged husband that throws her life into disarray.