Indians won big at the Cannes this year. Payal Kapadia scored the second highest prize. Anasuya Sengupta won best actress. And a 15-minute feature by a film institute grad took the highest prize in the shorts category. But the biggest winners—irrespective of nationality—were women!
Let’s start with Payal Kapadia…
‘All We Imagine as Light’ is director Payal Kapadia’s debut narrative film. It was the first Indian entry in the contest for the top prize—the Palme D’Or—after 30 years. The last Indian entry was ‘Swaham’ in 1994. The only Indian movie to ever win the Palme D’Or was Chetan Anand’s ‘Neecha Nagar’ in 1946. Kapadia’s film did not win the top prize—but the Grand Prix—which is awarded to the runner up. You can see Kapadia’s acceptance below—it was charming and refreshingly unfiltered:
Point to note: There was every indication that Kapadia would win big this year. The film received an eight-minute standing ovation at its screening. The reviews were every bit as rapturous. The Guardian gave it five stars—describing it as "glorious… an absorbing story full of humanity”—putting it at par with Satyajit Ray’s ‘Mahanagar’ (The Big City) and ‘Aranyer Din Ratri’ (Days and Nights in the Forest).
Red carpet moment to note: One of the lead actresses, Kani Kusruti, sported a watermelon clutch on the red carpet—in solidarity with Palestinians (significance explained here).
About the plot: The movie tracks two nurses in the big city of Mumbai—each with their own struggles. The older, married Prabha receives a surprise gift from her distant, barely communicative husband—a rice cooker. Is it a sign of a reconciliation, or a kiss-off? Her young roommate Anu is in a romance with a Muslim man. An affair that seems doomed and almost impossible to conduct—in a crowded city with no private spaces. The two of them accompany another nurse back to her village—a trip that turns into a journey of discovery:
The transition from city to country allows the three friends to breathe freely again: They drink and dance and confide in one another in ways they could never do back in Mumbai. Both Prabha and Anu also manage to discover things about themselves and their love lives — whether it’s Prabha coming to terms with her marriage or Anu consummating her passion for Shiaz. The latter sequence is shockingly sensual and seems to break a few taboos, showing a Hindu woman and Muslim man making love at a time when India’s prime minister seems to be doing all he can to ignite tensions between the two religions.
The competition: ‘All We Imagine As Light’ lost the grand prize—the Palme D’Or—to ‘Anora’ directed by Sean Baker. Described as a “tragi-comic modern-day Cinderella story about a stripper who marries a multimillionare.” What starts out as a classic fairytale—turns dark, absurd, and funny as her Russian husband’s unhappy oligarch family sends goons to “clean up the mess.” See a clip from the movie below:
As for the rest: The 38-year old beat out a venerable line-up of legends for the second spot—including Francis Ford Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos, Ali Abbasi, Jacques Audiard, and Jia Zhangke. The notable winners included the ensemble female cast of ‘Emilia Pérez’—who landed the best acting prize—and included the first trans woman actor to be honoured:
Best screenplay award went to French director Coralie Fargeat’s horror film on the cruelty of ageing in Hollywood—‘The Substance’ starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley:
A woman-led Cannes: The winners were led by women—in talent and plot—as was the jury:
“Call My Agent” star Camille Cottin hosted the awards for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where Greta Gerwig presided over a majority-female jury comprised of Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona, Turkish actor-screenwriter Ebru Ceylan, Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, American actor Lily Gladstone, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Lebanese actor-director Nadine Labaki and French stars Eva Green and Omar Sy.
The politics of Kapadia’s win: The backstory
Soon after the winners were announced, social media was rife with references to Kapadia’s past battles with the government-run Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). The FTII had once revoked her scholarship—and was therefore accused of hypocrisy for celebrating her win. The backstory is a bit more complicated.
The student strike: In 2015, Kapadia led a student strike against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the institute’s chairman. The reason: Chauhan was a BJP man best known for playing Yudhishtra in the ‘Mahabharat’ serial. She led a boycott of classes—and was one of the students who held then FTII director—Prashant Pathrabe—hostage in his office. At the time, FTII cancelled her scholarship—and she was named in an FIR filed for the Pathrabe incident.
The reconciliation: In 2017, Kapadia’s 13-minute film 'Afternoon Clouds' became the only Indian entry chosen for the Cannes short film category—open to film schools across the world. FTII decided to forgive and forget. It issued a letter of support and bore her travel expenses. At the time, Kapadia said: “I’m very grateful that I could study at FTII because I had this opportunity to make this film (Afternoon Cloud) which would otherwise not have been easy to fund.”
Irony alert: In 2019, Kapadia’s documentary ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing’ won the Oeil d’or (Golden Eye) award for best documentary at Cannes. The subject is student protests across the country—including those at FTII.
Something to see: This is what Kapadia said after her win about FTII and Indian cinema:
And the other big Indian winners are…
In the short film category: The winner is ‘Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know’—directed by FTII student Chidananda S Naik (They’re clearly doing something right!). Based on Kannada folklore, it’s about an elderly woman who steals a rooster and robs a village of sunlight. As with all student projects, it was truly a labour of love:
We just got four days to shoot. Shooting entirely at night with limited resources was tough, further amplified by the difficult geography of the location. Public transportation wasn’t accessible, so everyone had to carry equipment throughout the night with a minimal crew. Those four days were gruelling, with everyone exhausted and tired, yet driven by an unwavering passion.
As for Un Certain Regard: In the indie film category, the best actress prize went to Anasuya Sengupta for her role in ‘The Shameless’. It took 14 years for Bulgarian-American filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov to make his movie—inspired by William Dalrymple’s 2009 book, ‘Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India.’ The story, however, is entirely fictional:
In “The Shameless,” protagonist Renuka escapes from a Delhi brothel after killing a policeman, seeks refuge in a community of sex workers in a small town in northern India and develops a forbidden romance with Devika, a young girl condemned to a life of prostitution.
Check out the trailer for a better taste of the movie:
Fun fact: Bojanov happened to be a Facebook friend of Sengupta—who was in Goa having given up on acting. He asked her to audition for the role over DM—and the rest is history.
Also see: Sengupta’s acceptance speech spotlighting LGBTQ+ rights.
The bottomline: Cannes today, Oscars tomorrow? We hope.
Reading list
The Hindu has a good overview of the Indian presence at Cannes—including influencers. BBC News offers an excellent primer on ‘All We Imagine is Light’. On Kapadia’s FTII fight, read Scroll, On Manorama and The Print. Hollywood Reporter and The Guardian have the reviews. For more on ‘The Shameless’, read Variety’s detailed backstory on its making—and Indian Express on Sengupta’s journey to Cannes. For more on Chidananda Naik, read the Hindu profile. The Guardian has an engaging overview of a ‘romantic’ year at Cannes.
