The Oscars committee in France has shortlisted Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez, the Alexandre Dumas adaptation The Count of Monte Cristo, Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia, and Payal Kapadia‘s All We Imagine as Light.
All four films had their world premieres at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. At the festival, Emilia Perez earned the Jury Prize as well as Best Actress for its cast members Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana and Adriana Paz. On the other hand, All We Imagine as Light, starring Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, and Chhaya Kadam, among others, reportedly became the first Indian film to win the Cannes Grand Prize in 30 years.
Julian Graff and Thomas Hakim produced Kapadia's film through their company Petit Chaos based in France. When it won the Grand Prize, Anurag Kashyap disputed its appropriation as an Indian film.
"I get very upset when it's said 'India at Cannes'. This is a boost, a shot in the arm for a lot of independent filmmakers but their victory is their own," the Gangs of Wasseypur maker told PTI back then. He added, "India didn't have any moment at Cannes, not a single of those films are Indian. We need to address it the way it should be addressed. India has stopped supporting such cinema, the kind of cinema that was at Cannes."
The film is yet to hit theatres in India. Recently, Rana Daggubati's banner Spirit Media bought the rights to distribute it in India.
