Payal Kapadia

Some Lesser Known Facts About Payal Kapadia

• Payal participated in a protest lasting 4 months in 2015 opposing the appointment of Gajender Chauhan as FTII Director.

• An FIR was also filed against Payal and 34 others for holding the then director of FTII Prashant Pathrabe in his office as students challenged his decision to go ahead with the assessment of incomplete projects of students from the 2008 batch.

• She was initially denied scholarships as a disciplinary action but after her short film “Afternoon Clouds” was selected to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017 the FTII supported the filmmaker.

• The short film ‘Afternoon Clouds’ (2017), which was part of her student project at FTII, had its premiere at Cinefondation during the Cannes Film Festival. It was the only Indian film to be officially selected for that year.

• Payal Kapadia’s fictional film, All We Imagine As Light, was selected to be released at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival on 14 May 2024, making it the first Indian film in nearly three decades to be selected as a contender for the Palme d’Or award. On 25 May 2024, the film won the Grand Prix award, the second-most prestigious prize of the festival after the Palme d’Or.

  

• After she won the Grand Prix award at Cannes, many prominent figures congratulated her including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.