Payal Kapadia
The film scripted history for India by winning the Grand Prix
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Contents |
A brief biography
Born in Mumbai in 1986
FTII days
Ardhra Nair, May 24, 2024: The Times of India
Nine years are all it took for FTII graduate Payal Kapadia to go from “anti-national” to toast of the nation. The young filmmaker, whose ‘All We Imagine as Light’ clinched the Grand Prix at Cannes Saturday, was a student at the country’s cradle of cinema and TV when she braved chants of “go to Pakistan” for participating in a 139-day protest in 2015 against the appointment of actor Gajendra Chauhan as the FTII chairperson.
She, along with 34 other former students, continue to wage a legal battle over a case filed by the then institute’s director, Prashant Pathrabe, alleging their involvement in gheraoing him and vandalising his office that year.
But a day after conquering Cannes, there was not a trace of rancour in Payal’s words. All she reflected was the afterglow of an unprecedented triumph that she gracefully shared with fellow filmmakers from India.
“It’s a great feeling to receive this prize because there are so many good films from India alongside ours, and we feel a part of the larger family of filmmakers. We have three films from FTII directors this time. My FTII batchmate Maisam Ali’s film ‘In Retreat’ is the first Indian entry to Cannes’ ACID sidebar (Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema),” she told TOI from the French Riviera.
Payal’s film on 2015 FTII stir had also won Cannes laurel
Also, an FTII student’s (Chidananda Naik) film, titled ‘Sunflowers Were the First to Know’, won the main prize in La Cinef section. It’s fantastic for us and FTII.” Payal’s batchmates and other alumni recall that the 2015 protest was “against the appointment of people who had no achievement in filmmaking” but were allegedly included in FTII’s governing council for political reasons.
Harishankar Nachimuthu, ex-president of FTII Students’ Association and spearhead of the agitation, said Payal always had a vision about where she wanted to go and was willing to fight it out. “She was denied a scholarship and a foreign exchange opportunity for participating in the four-month protest. But even she would agree that FTII made us better filmmakers, better human beings, and responsible citizens,” he said.
Payal credited her teachers and students at FTII for her success, saying that while not everyone needed to go to a film school, the institute benefited her with a structure that facilitates the dissemination of different cinematic ideas. “It is also a great place to meet people who share a love for cinema. My batchmates were instrumental in shaping my ideas. At FTII, we got to see films from all over the world and this exposure helped me make my film.”
Payal’s peers and seniors see her as a film aficionado perpetually behind the camera, documenting various subjects, and relentlessly pursuing any project she takes up to fruition. Ajayan Adat, winner of the 53rd Kerala State Film Awards for best sound design, was Payal’s senior by two years in college. He said her big qualities were patience and diligence. “She was pained by the then govt’s attitude against the students’ protest. So she took out a camera and started filming everything. She made hours of footage into a documentary titled ‘Night of Knowing Nothing’. It won the L’Oeil d’Or at Cannes in 2021.”
Payal Kapadia is...
Payal Kapadia is a Mumbai-based filmmaker and artist Who has won more and higher awards at the Cannes Film Festival than any other Indian.
She studied Film Direction at the Film & Television Institute of India.
Payal's work
Her work deals with that which is not easily visible, hidden somewhere in the folds of memory and dreams. It is between minor, ephemeral feminine gestures where she tries to find the truth that makes up her practice.
The Last Mango Before Monsoon 2015 Kapadia’s experimental short The Last Mango Before Monsoon was premiered at Oberhausen International Film Festival (2015), where she was awarded FIPRESCI award and Special Jury Prize.
Afternoon Clouds 2017 Her much acclaimed short film was India’s sole official selection in Cannes Film Festival, 2017, in Cinefondation section. Dopahar Ke Badal / Afternoon Clouds | Payal Kapadia (short)
Director Payal Kapadia’s A Night Of Knowing Nothing 2021 won the Oeil d’or (Golden Eye) award for best documentary at the 74th Cannes Film Festival
And what was the Summer Saying 2018 Her experimental short had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival (2018). It also received the Special Jury Prize at the International Documentary Film Festival of Amsterdam IDFA (2018) and the Pramod Pati Best Experimental Film Prize at the Mumbai International Film festival (2020).
All We Imagine as Light Payal worked on making her first feature film All We Imagine as Light which she developed at the Cinefondation Cannes Residency in Paris (2019-20). She received the Hubert Bals Script and Development Fund as well as the CICLIC Development fund for this project.
Filmography
1
2014 Watermelon, Fish and Half Ghost Director Short film
2015 Afternoon Clouds Director Writer
2017 The Last Mango Before the Monsoon Director Writer Editor
2018 And What is the Summer Saying † Director Writer
2021 A Night of Knowing Nothing Director Writer
2024 All We Imagine as Light Director Writer
2
2021 A Little Late with Lilly Singh TV Series
2021 To Dine For with Kate Sullivan TV Series
2022 Bollywood, NYC (USA) documentary Actress
2022 The School of Greatness Podcast Series Guest
2022 Dhar Mann TV Series Actress
