BFI Distribution has released the UK trailer for ‘All We Imagine As Light’ – the 2024 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner, written and directed by Payal Kapadia, ahead of its cinematic release in the UK and Ireland at the end of this month.
The film recently sold out the 2,200 capacity Royal Festival Hall for its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and is already tipped as a strong contender for more trophies in the forthcoming awards season.
An independent Indian feature with the look and feel of a European arthouse modern classic, exploring the complexities of friendship between three women, this beautiful, sweeping and emotional film brilliantly captures the frantic pace, the vibrant colours and the heady atmosphere of life in modern Mumbai.
In Mumbai, thoughtful Nurse Prabha’s routine is upset when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger, flightier and rebellious roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her secret boyfriend. Their colleague Parvaty fights to stay in her home without any requisite paperwork left by her late husband. A trip to a beach town allows them each to find a space for their desires to manifest.
Featuring Kani Kusruti (‘Girls Will Be Girls’), Divya Prabha (‘Family’) and Chhaya Kadam (‘Sister Midnight’) in the lead roles, ‘All We Imagine As Light’ was the first Indian film to be selected in an Official Competition at Cannes in three decades. Kapadia also made history as the first female Indian filmmaker ever to have a film in this prestigious section of the festival.
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Kapadia is a Mumbai-based filmmaker who studied Film Direction at the Film & Television Institute of India. Her short films, ‘Afternoon Clouds’ (2017) and ‘And What Is The Summer Saying’ (2018), premiered at the Cannes Cinéfondation and the Berlinale respectively. Her first feature film, ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing’ (2021) premiered at the 2021 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, where it won the Golden Eye Documentary Prize.
European development funds enabled Kapadia to reside in Europe and develop ‘All We Imagine As Light’ with her French producers, before beginning production in her native India. It is now set for its UK and Irish cinematic release on November 29, followed by a BFI Blu-ray and BFI Player release in early 2025.