Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadiawhose film ‘All We Imagine as Light’ won the Grand Prix at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, will return to the festival.However, this time, he will be the president of the jury of the 65th edition of the Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival, as reported by ‘Variety’.The jury will include Quebecois actor Theodore Pellerin, singer-songwriter Oklou, Ghanaian-British producer Ama Ampadu and Bangkok World Film Festival journalist and director Donsaron Kovitvanitcha.Payal Kapadia, across six short and feature films, “has crafted a body of work in which poetry contrasts with her unrelenting political vision of her country,” Critic’s Week said in a statement.“This duality underlines the power of his cinema, a universe that encompasses all forms of conveying folk myths and revealing invisible lives, class struggles and the realities of women’s lives,” they added.According to ‘Variety’, after studying directing at the Film & Television Institute of India in Pune, his short films ‘Afternoon Clouds’ and ‘And What Is the Summer Saying’ were selected at Cinefondation and the Berlinale.His first feature film ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing’ was selected in the 2021 Directors’ Fortnight and won the L’Oeil d’Or for best documentary. In 2024, the Cannes Film Festival awarded the Grand Prix to his second film, ‘All We Imagine as Light’.He said: “My journey as a filmmaker was started by the selection of film festivals, which allowed me to meet others like me from around the world and helped me build a community of future collaborators. At a time when independent cinema is eroding in every country, supporting the first works of filmmakers is almost a resistance to market forces”.“Film criticism is one of the key components of the ecosystem of independent cinema and art house cinema. First films are freer, bolder and more fearless, having an individual voice and defending them is absolutely essential. First films are also fragile and nurturing them in a section like Critics’ Week helps them flourish among the work of already established filmmakers,” he added.
