Filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light – starring Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, and Chhaya Kadam – created history at the 77th Cannes International Film Festival by becoming the first Indian film to feature in the main competition since 1994, and winning the prestigious Grand Prix.
Later, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, in an interview with PTI, said India didn’t even give the rebate that was promised to All We Imagine as Light. Kashyap also said that India stopped supporting independent cinema, emphasizing Kapadia’s film could happen only because of the French fund.
Now, in a new interview with News18, Kapadia reacted to Kashyap’s statements and agreed with him. Kapadia said, “To be honest, I don’t know what can bring about change. We need structural changes in the industry, opportunities for independent filmmakers, grants that they can apply for or some kind of support system. And I’m not just talking about the support needed in making an independent film. The bigger question is, how do you distribute a film like that? That’s why I’m very happy that Spirit Media is distributing my film. It’s a great thing for me that an independent film like All We Imagine As Light will get distributed and be shown in so many cities.”
When asked if the recognition she has garnered will lead mainstream production houses to open their doors for her, Kapadia said, “Who knows? The only thing I can say is that all of this has helped me with public speaking. It’s still too early to say anything because independent filmmaking takes a lot of time. You would want to raise funds to tell the kind of stories you want and have a certain kind of creative freedom and that involves a lot of steps. Having said that, I’m okay with the time this entire process takes. Also, it would also be great if those in the mainstream also take some time out to support independent films. At the end of the day, we co-exist in the same industry.”
On a related note, after traveling across global film festivals, All We Imagine As Light recently opened the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024. The screening was attended by the who’s who of Bollywood, including Kabir Khan, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vishal Bhardwaj, Ramesh Sippy, and Waheeda Rehman.
Sharing her excitement about the same, Kapadia said, “I’m happy that the film fraternity could watch my film. The fraternity includes a lot of my friends, some of whom I had met when I was a student at the FTII. Some of them also sent me some really nice messages after our Cannes win. For anybody who makes films, they know it very well that without friends and a great crew, it’s impossible to make a film.”
See Also: Will All We Imagine As Light Be Sent To Oscar As Independent Entry? Director Payal Kapadia Reveals
