All We Imagine As Light director Payal Kapadia will be the president of the jury for the 65th Cannes Critics Week, which runs parallel to the main festival and nurtures emerging voices in cinema. Kapadia shone at the Cannes 2024 by becoming the first Indian filmmaker to win the Grand Prix award and being a part of the festival jury in 2025. In the upcoming season of the festival, Payal will lead a panel of international jury members, including Quebecois actor Theodore Pellerin, singer-songwriter Oklou, Ghanaian-British producer Ama Ampadu, and journalist and director of the Bangkok World Film Festival Donsaron Kovitvanitcha.
Payal Kapadia on being selected jury president
The festival sidebar, known as `Semaine de la critique`, is organised by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. The 65th edition will run from May 13 to 21.
“At a time where independent cinema is being eroded in every country, supporting the first works of filmmakers is almost a resistance to the market forces. Film criticism is one of the key components of the independent and art house film ecosystem. The first films are often freer, more daring and fearless, having an individual voice and to champion those is absolutely essential. First films are also fragile and to be nurtured in a section like Critics Week, helps them blossom amongst already established filmmaker`s work,” Kapadia said in a statement.
More about Payal Kapadia
Kapadia studied at the Film & Television Institute of India, Pune. Her short films “Afternoon Clouds” and “And What is the Summer Saying” were selected at the Cinefondation and the Berlinale. Her first feature documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing was selected at the Directors` Fortnight at Cannes in 2021 and won L`Oeil d`Or for Best Documentary.
All We Imagine As Light, which documented the lives of two working women`s lives in Mumbai, shot Kapadia among the most promising filmmakers across the world with its win at the Cannes Film Festival.
Kapadia will present La Semaine de la Critique Ami Paris Grand Prize for best feature film, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for best actor or actress, and the Sony Discovery Prize for best short film.
The Cannes Film Festival will take place from May 12 to May 23.
(with inputs from PTI)
