Close-up: Payal Kapadia

Winner of the Grand Prix in Cannes with All we Imagine is Light (2024) her sophomore feature film, Payal Kapadia is undoubtedly the most notable Indian filmmaker working in contemporary cinema. Born in Mumbai, she studied at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune where she already made two of her short works that found their way to festivals. Early on she demonstrated her emerging talent and laid the foundations for her layered cinema that is firmly rooted in Indian society. Cinema that defies genres and blends political commentary and class struggle with folk myths and dreamlike escapes.

At the end of her studies she began working on her feature debut documentary, A Night of Knowing Nothing which premiered in 2021 and won multiple awards at film festivals across the globe, and was shown here in Bozar. Shortly after she began working on her first fiction film All We Imagine is Light, which further established Kapadia as a deeply humanistic filmmaker with a sharp eye for the often invisible injustices of society.

She will join us during three days for multiple encounters and to present her feature films, several of her short films and a choice of Indian cinema that has left a mark on her.