All We Imagine as Light

All We Imagine as Light
Promotional poster
Directed by	Payal Kapadia
Written by	Payal Kapadia
Produced by	Thomas Hakim Julien Graff
Starring	Kani Kusruti Divya Prabha Chhaya Kadam Hridhu Haroon
Cinematography	Ranabir Das
Edited by	Clément Pinteaux
Music by	Topshe Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou
Production companies	Petit Chaos Chalk & Cheese BALDR Film Les Films Fauves Another Birth Pulpa Films Arte France Cinéma
Distributed by	Condor Distribution (France) Spirit Media (India) September Film (Netherlands)
Release dates	23 May 2024 (2024-05-23) (Cannes) 21 September 2024 (2024-09-21) (India) 2 October 2024 (2024-10-02) (France)
Running time	115 minutes
Countries	France India Netherlands Luxembourg Italy
Languages	Malayalam Hindi Marathi
Box office	$2.4 million[1]

All We Imagine as Light is a 2024 drama film written and directed by Payal Kapadia. The cast includes Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam and Hridhu Haroon. Featuring Malayalam, Hindi, and Marathi dialogue, it was an international co-production involving companies from France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Italy.

The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the 77th Cannes Film Festival on 23 May 2024, where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or and won the Grand Prix.^[2][3] It was the first film from India to compete in the main competition since Swaham in 1994.

It received a limited release in Kerala, India, on 21 September 2024,^[4] before opening wide on 29 November 2024 to positive reviews.^[5] It topped the Sight & Sound poll for best film of 2024 and was named one of the top five international films of 2024 by the National Board of Review.^[6][7] At the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, the film received two nominations, for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director.^[8]

Prabha and Anu are Malayali nurses living together in Mumbai. Prabha is straitlaced and upright, and yearns for her husband who lives in Germany and had only come to India once for a short arranged marriage with her, but has not called Prabha in over a year. Anu is more outgoing, and is having a secret affair with a Muslim man named Shiaz.^[9] One day, Prabha and Anu receive a modern rice cooker from an unknown sender; the cooker is made in Germany. A doctor, Manoj, tries to woo Prabha, but she rejects his advances, claiming her marital status.

Prabha tries to help the cook at their hospital, Parvaty, fight against a capitalistic builder who wants to demolish Parvaty's chawl to build a skyscraper. Unable to claim legal tenancy, Parvaty decides to quit her job and move back to her village in Ratnagiri. Prabha and Anu travel with her, to help her relocate.

Unbeknownst to Prabha and Parvaty, Shiaz has followed Anu. They secretly meet up and have sex, which Prabha discovers. Meanwhile, Prabha rescues a middle-aged man from drowning by resuscitating him with CPR. While he is waiting for the local doctor, Prabha cleans and cares for him. She begins having a conversation with him, transforming him into her husband. He apologises for abandoning her and seeks her apology, but she tells him that she does not want to see him ever again.

Late at night at a beach shack, Prabha asks a surprised Anu to invite Shiaz to sit with herself and Parvaty. They all chat happily, as the lights of the shack shine over them.

• Kani Kusruti as Prabha
• Divya Prabha as Anu
• Chhaya Kadam as Parvaty
• Hridhu Haroon as Shiaz
• Azees Nedumangad as Dr. Manoj
• Tintumol Joseph as Nurse Shanet
• Anand Sami as Drowned Man

The film was produced by Thomas Hakim and Julian Graff through their French-based company Petit Chaos, in co-production with the Indian companies Chalk & Cheese and Another Birth, as well as by the Netherlands's BALDR Film, Luxembourg's Les Films Fauves, Italy's Pulpa Films and France's Arte France Cinéma. Hakim first met Kapadia at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival in 2018. This was the first feature film produced by Chalk & Cheese, which previously produced commercials for nine years.^[10][11]

Kapadia used money from the Huub Bals grant and Cinéfondation to reside in Europe in order to plan the film production with Hakim. Financing for the film was obtained from Arte, Cineworld, CNC, Condor, Eurimages, Gan Foundation, Hubert Bals Fund, Luxbox, Pulpa Film, and Visions Sud Est.^[10]

Filming was done in Mumbai over the course of twenty-five days and then in Ratnagiri for fifteen days.^[10]

All We Imagine as Light was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 23 May,^[12] and received an eight minute standing ovation at the end of its screening.^[13][14] This is the first film from India to compete in the main competition at Cannes since Swaham in 1994, and Kapadia is the first Indian female filmmaker to do so.^[10] It won the Grand Prix, becoming the first Indian film to do so.^[15]

On 9 September 2024, it was announced that Spirit Media, founded by Indian actor Rana Daggubati, had acquired Indian distribution rights to the film.^[16] Spirit Media announced that the film would begin its Oscar-qualifying release with a limited theatrical release in Kerala starting on 21 September under the Malayalam title 'പ്രഭയായ് നിനച്ചതെല്ലാം' i.e. Prabhayay Ninachathellam.^[17]

The film has been selected as the opening film for the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024.^[18] The film will be released theatrically in India on 22 November 2024.^[19][20]

Janus Films and distribution partner Sideshow acquired the North American rights for the film on 20 May 2024,^[21] and released the film on 15 November 2024 in New York and Los Angeles, with a nationwide expansion planned.^[22] The film was also played at the Toronto International Film Festival on 5 September 2024.^[23] It was released in France by Condor Distribution on 2 October 2024.^[24] It was featured in the accolades section of the 55th IFFI,^[25][26] and Limelight section of the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam to be screened on 30 January 2025.^[27]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 126 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Capturing the here and now of modern India with the spontaneity of a candid photograph, All We Imagine as Light is a lustrous achievement that announces Payal Kapadia as an essential filmmaker."^[28] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 94 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".^[29] On AlloCiné, the film received an average rating of 3.8 out of 5, based on 31 reviews from French critics.^[30]

Peter Bradshaw, writing in The Guardian, gave the film five stars and praised it as an "absorbing story of three nurses that is full of humanity".^[31] Nicholas Barber, writing in the BBC, also gave the film five stars.^[32]

The British film magazine Sight & Sound named it the best film of 2024 in its poll of over 100 critics worldwide.^[6]

The film was ranked 5th among the top 25 European works of 2024 by the journalists at Cineuropa.^[33]

For the 97th Academy Awards, All We Imagine As Light was not selected to be submitted by either France or India, with the former submitting Emilia Pérez, and the latter submitting Laapataa Ladies. The film had been shortlisted for France's submission.^[34] The Film Federation of India's (FFI) decision to not submit the film was unexpected, with NPR's Diaa Hadid remarking that the film's international reception had "garnered raised hopes that India might finally have a serious contender for an Oscar in the best foreign film category".^[35] Many like Naman Ramachandran of Variety drew comparisons to India's decision to not select The Lunchbox (2013) and RRR (2022) for its Academy Awards submissions, particularly in light of the film's success at the Cannes Film Festival with it having won the Grand Jury Prize.^[36]

At the initial news announcing the selection of Laapataa Ladies, FFI president Ravi Kottarakara explained All That We Imagine As Light's exclusion, saying "The jury said that they were watching a European film taking place in India, not an Indian film taking place in India."^[37] Justifying its selection, the FFI noted on Laapataa Ladies, "Indian women are a strange mixture of submission and dominance. Well-defined, powerful characters in one world, a Laapataa Ladies (Hindi) captures this diversity perfectly, though in a semi-idyllic world and in a tongue-in-cheek way."^[37] Kapadia responded to the controversy by expressing her appreciation for Kiran Rao's works, saying to Indiewire "I just think it’s really great that there are two films from India that are doing this well, and they’re both by women."^[38]

On December 17, the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences released its shortlist for a variety of categories, including best International Feature Film, and India's selection (Laapataa Ladies) was not selected, triggering a renewed discussion on the decision to "snub" the film.^[39] Industry figures like director Hansal Mehta and Ricky Kej publicly voiced their discontent with the FFI's decision to not send All We Imagine As Light, with the former sarcastically remarking "Film Federation of India does it again! Their strike rate and selection of films year after year is impeccable."^[40]

In light of the renewed controversy following the release of the Academy Award shortlist, Jahnu Barua, the head of the 13-member all-male jury remarked to the Hindustan Times that people ought to be "respectful of the process".^[41] Elaborating on the decision to not consider All That We Imagine As Light, Barua said "The jury felt that her film was very poor technically."^[41]

• All We Imagine as Light at IMDb 
• All We Imagine as Light at Letterboxd