Payal Kapadia's critically acclaimed film All We Imagine As Light lost out the BAFTA in the Best Film Not in the English Language category to the French musical crime film Emilia Perez.
Despite controversy surrounding its lead star Karla Sofia Gascon's old tweets, which were viewed as Islamophobic and racist, the film won the award at Sunday's ceremony in London with film's second lead Zoe Saldana taking home the BAFTA in the Supporting Actress segment.
Emilia Perez, a French film directed by Jacques Audiard, follows four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing their own happiness. Cartel leader Emilia (Gascon) enlists Rita (Saldana), an unappreciated lawyer, to help fake her death so that she can fake her death so that she can finally live authentically as her true self.
AWIAL, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year, secured the prestigious Grand Prix award at the event, making it a historic win for Indian cinema. The Malayalam-Hindi bilingual drama explores the lives of three women navigating personal and societal challenges in Mumbai, with Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, and Chhaya Kadam in the lead roles.
Payal Kapadia’s film was nominated alongside I’m Still Here, Kneecap, and The Seed of the Sacred Fig. This marked a second major disappointment for Kapadia and India, following last month’s Golden Globes snub, where Emilia Perez once again took the win.
Hours after the ceremony, the official Instagram page of Kapadia's film shared a picture of the director mingling with fellow artists. "Win or lose, good year for Indian films internationally," read the caption of the Instagram Story.
Despite the Oscar and Golden Globes snub, the film has been the recipient of multiple awards and nominations across the world over the last year, including the 30th annual Critics Choice Awards nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Best International Feature at Gotham Awards, Jury Grand Prize at Asia Pacific Screen Awards, and Best International Film at the New York Film Critics Circle, among many others.
Earlier this year, Emilia Perez also won the Golden Globe in the Best Motion Picture Non-English Language category, beating out All We Imagine As Light, The Girl With the Needle, I'm Still Here, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and Vermiglio.