Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light, which has been grabbing several accolades across the globe, lost out on the prestigious Golden Globes as Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez took home the Best Foreign Language Film award. The star-studded event took place at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, Los Angeles on Sunday (Monday in India).
The Best Motion Picture Non-English Language also had nominees in The Girl With the Needle (Poland), I’m Still Here (Brazil), The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany) and Vermiglio (Italy).
Payal Kapadia, who was also nominated in the Best Director category, lost to Brady Corbet of The Brutalist fame. The other competing filmmakers were: Jacques Audiard (Emilia Perez), Sean Baker (Anora), Edward Berger (Conclave), Corbet (The Brutalist), and Coralie Fargeat (The Substance).
AWIAL, which had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this 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. The film, which was in top contention in the Best International Feature Film category at the upcoming Oscars, was not chosen as India’s official entry. Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies was chosen instead which did not make the cut for the nominations.
The film is an official Indo-French co-production between Petit Chaos from France and Chalk & Cheese and Another Birth from India. Actor-producer Rana Daggubati's company Spirit Media distributed the film across the country.
Over the last year, the film has been the recipient of multiple awards and nominations across the world 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.
The film, which explores the lives of three women in the bustling metropolitan city of Mumbai, is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
