Did France consider Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light for Oscars 2025?

Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light might have dropped out of the Oscars 2025 race from India and France, the Cannes winner was however considered by two sets of juries for their entry for Best International Feature category. All We Imagine As Light first made news as it won the coveted Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prix in 2024. The filmshowsthe lives of two nurses from Kerala who share accommodation in Mumbai. It features performances by Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabhu, and Chhaya Kadam.

Payal Kapadia, who both wrote and directed the film, received appreciation from producers in India, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy. Thomas Hakim and Julian Graff from France's Petit Chaos serve as the main producers.

All We Imagine As Light made history as the first Indian film in three decades to competefor the Palme d'Or. Its Grand Prix win at Cannes, the festival’s second-highest accolade, brought pride to India. The film's recent theatrical distribution deal in India through Rama Daggubati's Spirit Media has made it eligible for Oscar consideration from the country.

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In France, All We Imagine As Light lost to Emilia Perez. In India, it lost to Laapata Ladies by Kiran Rao.

When the film first got shortlisted for consideration, Indian actor Ayushmann Khurrana wrote a note for Kapadiaand called her a "trailblazer." His note in the magazine stated, "There is a powerful believability to how she (Payal) portrays the human experience onscreen. Her authenticity and her lens on reality are part of what makes her work so rare."

Kapadia, an FTII alumna known for her acclaimed documentaries and short films, madeher feature directorial debut with All We Imagine as Light.

As a student at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, Kapadia,daughter of renowned artist Nalini Malani, found herself at the centre of controversy. In 2015, Kapadia protested for four months challenging the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan, a television actor who had transitioned into politics, as the institute's chairman.