Payal Kapadia (filmmaker)

Payal Kapadia (born 4 January 1986)^[1] is an Indian filmmaker. In 2017, her short film Afternoon Clouds was the only Indian film selected for the 70th Cannes Film Festival.^[2] In 2021, she won the Golden Eye award for best documentary film at the 74th Cannes Film Festival for her debut feature A Night of Knowing Nothing.^[3][4][5]

Payal Kapadia
Payal Kapadia at 2024 Cannes Film Festival
Born	(1986-01-04) 4 January 1986 (age 39) Mumbai, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Film and Television Institute of India
Occupations	Film director screenwriter
Years active	2014–present

In 2024, she won the Grand Prix at the 77th Cannes Film Festival for her fiction feature debut All We Imagine as Light.^[6][7] It also earned her a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director.^[8]

Early life and education

Payal Kapadia was born in Mumbai on 4 January 1986^[1][9] to painter and video artist Nalini Malani and psychoanalyst Shailesh Kapadia.^{[10][better source needed]}

Kapadia went to Rishi Valley School, a boarding school in Andhra Pradesh. Here she had her first exposure to avant-garde filmmakers like Ritwik Ghatak and Andrei Tarkovsky, as she was part of the school's film club. She studied at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai,and also earned a one-year master's degree from Sophia College for Women.^[11]

She then went on to study film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India,^[12] where she was selected on her second attempt in 2012. In between for five years she worked in Mumbai, in advertising and assisting a video artist.^[11]

Career

In 2017, Kapadia's short film Afternoon Clouds was the only Indian film selected for the 70th Cannes Film Festival.^[2]

In 2021, she won the Golden Eye award for best documentary film at the 74th Cannes Film Festival for her debut feature A Night of Knowing Nothing.^[3][4][5]

In 2024, Kapadia won the Grand Prix at the 77th Cannes Film Festival for her fiction feature debut All We Imagine as Light.^[6][13] It also earned her a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director,^[8] and was a special feature in the Limelight section of the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it will be screened on 30 January 2025.^[14]

In 2025, Kapadia was invited as a member of the international competition Jury at Cannes 2025.

Filmography

† – Indicates Documentary film

Year	Title	Credited as			Notes
		Director	Writer	Other
2014	Watermelon, Fish and Half Ghost	Yes	No	No	Short film
2015	The Last Mango Before the Monsoon	Yes	Yes	Editor
2017	Afternoon Clouds	Yes	Yes	No
2018	And What is the Summer Saying †	Yes	Yes	No
2021	A Night of Knowing Nothing †	Yes	Yes	No
2024	All We Imagine as Light	Yes	Yes	No

Accolades

Award	Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
Asian Film Awards	2025	Best Film	All We Imagine as Light	Won	[15]
		Best Director		Nominated
		Best Screenplay		Nominated
Asia Pacific Screen Awards	2021	Best Film	A Night of Knowing Nothing	Nominated	[16]
	2024		All We Imagine as Light	Nominated	[17]
		Best Director		Nominated
		Best Screenplay		Nominated
		Jury Grand Prize		Won	[18]
British Academy Film Awards	2025	Best Film Not in the English Language	All We Imagine as Light	Nominated	[19]
British Independent Film Awards	2024	Best International Independent Film	All We Imagine as Light	Nominated	[20]
Cahiers du Cinéma	2024	Annual Top 10	All We Imagine as Light	5th Place	[21]
Camden International Film Festival	2021	Cinematic Vision Award	A Night of Knowing Nothing	Won	[22]
Cannes Film Festival	2021	Caméra d'Or	A Night of Knowing Nothing	Nominated	[23]
		L'Œil d'or		Won	[24]
	2024	Palme d'Or	All We Imagine as Light	Nominated	[25]
		Grand Prix		Won	[26]
		Prix des Cinémas Art et Essai – Special Mention		Won	[27]
Chicago Film Critics Association	2024	Milos Stehlik Award for Breakthrough Filmmaker	All We Imagine as Light	Nominated	[28]
Chicago International Film Festival	2024	Silver Hugo – Jury Prize	All We Imagine as Light	Won	[29]
Cinema Eye Honors	2023	Outstanding Nonfiction Feature	A Night of Knowing Nothing	Nominated	[30] [31]
		Outstanding Direction		Nominated
		Outstanding Debut		Nominated
Directors Guild of America Awards	2025	Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film	All We Imagine as Light	Nominated	[32]
Fribourg International Film Festival	2019	Best International Short Film Award	And What Is the Summer Saying?	Won	[33]
Golden Globe Awards	2025	Best Director – Motion Picture	All We Imagine as Light	Nominated	[34]
Gotham Awards	2024	Best Director	All We Imagine as Light	Nominated	[35]
		Best International Feature		Won
Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival	2021	Best Film Award	A Night of Knowing Nothing	Won	[36]
Mill Valley Film Festival	2024	Mind the Gap Award	—	Honored	[37] [38]
Mirage Film Festival	2022	MIRAGE Award – Directing	A Night of Knowing Nothing	Won	[39] [40]
Montclair Film Festival	2024	Fiction Feature Prize	All We Imagine as Light	Won	[41] [42]
National Society of Film Critics	2025	Best Director	All We Imagine as Light	Won	[43] [44]
		Best Foreign Language Film		Won
New York Film Critics Circle	2024	Best International Film	All We Imagine as Light	Won	[45]
San Diego Asian Film Festival	2017	Best International Short	Afternoon Clouds	Won	[46]
San Sebastián International Film Festival	2024	RTVE-Another Look Award	All We Imagine as Light	Won	[47] [48]
Taiwan International Documentary Festival	2022	Merit Prize	A Night of Knowing Nothing	Won	[49]
Toronto International Film Festival	2021	Amplify Voices Award		Won	[50] [51] [52]
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival	2023	Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize		Won	[53] [54]