All We Imagine as Light

All We Imagine as Light is a 2024 drama film written and directed by Payal Kapadia. The cast includes Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam and Hridhu Haroon. The film was an international co-production involving companies from India, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Italy.

The film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It was the first film from India to compete in the main competition since 1994, and won the Grand Prix.

Plot
Prabha and Anu are Malayali nurses living in Mumbai who are both troubled by their relationships. The two embark on a road trip to a beach town where "the mystical forest becomes a space for their dreams to manifest."

Cast

 * Kani Kusruti as Prabha
 * Divya Prabha as Anu
 * Chhaya Kadam as Parvathy
 * Hridhu Haroon as Shiz
 * Azees Nedumangad as Dr. Manoj
 * Tintumol Joseph as Nurse Shanet

Production
The film was produced by Thomas Hakim and Julian Graff through their French-based company Petit Chaos, in co-production with the Indian companies Chalk & Cheese Films and Another Birth, as well as by the Netherlands's BALDR Film, Luxembourg's Les Films Fauves, Italy's Pulpa Films and France's Arte France Cinéma. Hakim first met Kapadia at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival in 2018. This was the first feature film produced by Chalk & Cheese, which previously produced commercials for nine years.

Kapadia used money from the Huub Bals grant and Cinéfondation to reside in Europe in order to plan the film production with Hakim. Financing for the film was obtained from Arte, Cineworld, CNC, Condor, Eurimages, Gan Foundation, Hubert Bals Fund, Luxbox, Pulpa Film, and Visions Sud Est.

Filming was done in Mumbai over the course of twenty-five days and then in Ratnagiri for fifteen days.

Release
All We Imagine as Light was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 23 May, and received an eight minute standing ovation at the end of its screening. This is the first film from India to compete in the main competition at Cannes since Swaham in 1994, and Kapadia is the first Indian female filmmaker to do so. It won the Grand Prix, becoming the first Indian film to do so.

Janus Films and distribution partner Sideshow acquired the North American rights for the film on 20 May. It is scheduled to be released in France by Condor Distribution on 2 October 2024.

Critical response
The film premiered to widely positive reviews from critics.

Peter Bradshaw, writing in The Guardian, gave the film five stars and praised it as an "absorbing story of three nurses that is full of humanity". Nicholas Barber, writing in the BBC, also gave the film five stars.