Cinema has its own vocabulary: Cannes winner Payal Kapadia | Bollywood

New Delhi: Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner Payal Kapadia says the beauty of cinema is that all kinds of cinema can and should co-exist, and she attributes a large part of her studies at FTII, Pune, to her exposure to films from all over the world.

Kapadia created history by becoming the first Indian director to win the coveted trophy with his film “All We Imagine As Light,” the second most prestigious award at the European film festival after the top prize, the Palme d’Or.

Kapadia’s meditative Malayalam and Hindi film about two Mumbai nurses is the first film to be screened in the main competition section of the prestigious festival in 30 years, since Shaji N. Karun’s 1994 Malayalam film “Swaham.”

“I studied at FTII, which was a really important part of learning film for me. We watched films from all over the world there, studied films from every country. Maybe that has seeped into my taste in filmmaking,” she said at a press conference in Cannes after receiving an award at the event, which ran from May 14-25.

“Maybe it’s a language that Western audiences will find more accessible because Indian cinema has its own vocabulary and we are very self-contained in India. We understand the gestures of our community,” Kapadia said, reflecting on the film’s universal appeal after it wowed international critics and the Cannes jury led by “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig.

Addressing a press conference with the cast in Cannes on Saturday night, the filmmaker spoke about his extensive collaboration with actors and technicians, the importance of sound in a film set primarily in the hustle and bustle of busy Mumbai, and the thriving film culture in various states, especially Kerala.

Kapadia, who is also known for the acclaimed documentary “Nothing Goes By”, said India does not necessarily need to send its films to international film festivals as it has plenty of its own.

“We have our own film festival. Lots of people go out to see films. This is just one film among thousands. It’s good that there are all kinds of festival films – films that are shown at festivals and films that are not shown at festivals. All should coexist. That’s the beauty of cinema,” she added.

She gave a shout-out to her fellow FTII alumni, including fellow student Maisam Ali, whose film In Retreat was screened at the ACID sidebar in Cannes. Chidanand S Naik, also a student at FTII, won the La Synef Best Short Film award for his graduation film Sunflowers Were The First to Know.

“It was nice that our school exposed us to different types of filmmaking, and I’m really grateful,” she said.

Kapadia also praised the thriving Malayalam film industry, saying audiences in Kerala are open to watching different kinds of films. “All We Imagine As Light” also stars Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam and Hridu Haroon.

“Everything is changing. Even what Bollywood is is constantly changing. There is a huge scope for cinema in Kerala. Even art-house films get distributed there, which is not the case in other parts of the country,” Kapadia said.

She said it was a pleasure to work with such fine actors.

“We had a really strong friendship and bond, and that’s what the film is about. So if you have that in real life, it shows in the film. I’m really grateful to have had the opportunity to work with them. They gave me a lot of time…A friendship developed between us, and that ultimately showed on screen.”

Kapadia said it was an honour to be selected for the main competition at Cannes, but that winning was “absolutely incredible”, a sentiment she echoed in her acceptance speech, where she urged organisers not to wait another 30 years to screen Indian films.

“I’m really happy to receive this recognition… The filmmakers are really incredible and people I really respect. There are interesting films being made in India and I’m just one example of that…

“We’ve been around for a long time. But for some reason it took us 30 years to get selected. But our country is producing great films. I’m happy to see the kind of films we are making in India.”

All We Imagine Is Light revolves around three women of different ages living in Mumbai, whose lives take an interesting turn when they go on a trip to the seaside town of Ratnagiri.

Many reviews have stated that Mumbai is merely one character in a tender tale of sisterhood and loneliness.

Kapadia said sound is a “vital element” in all her work.

“If you’re from Mumbai, you’ll know that it’s never quiet here. Even the sound of silence is unique. You can always hear trains and construction work from afar. Mumbai is a city known for its soundscape and I wanted to incorporate those sounds in the film.”

The film is a co-production between France’s Petit Chaos and India’s Chalk & Cheese Films.

Capturing Mumbai’s natural sounds in their raw form was “torture” for the film’s French-born sound recordist, Benjamin Silvestre, Kapadia said.

“He couldn’t understand why it was making such a noise, but I think that’s the joy of collaborating and learning from each other. It was really nice to have friends from France and to be able to work with them in this way,” she added.

Kapadia is a regular at Cannes.

She participated in the festival in 2021 with “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” which was shot in the Directors’ Fortnight section. In 2017, her short film “Afternoon Clouds” premiered at the same gala in the Cinéfondation section.

This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.