Payal Kapadia on winning Sight and Sound’s best films of 2024 poll with All We Imagine as Light
This delicate, dreamlike tale of loneliness and fellowship, following the lives of three women in Mumbai, is the unforgettable winner of this year’s poll. Here, the director shares her delight at hearing of her victory, outlines the project’s glacial evolution since film school and explains why ‘working on a film is working out the chaos of your mind’.
I am extremely thrilled to be selected as the best film of the year by Sight and Sound! Astounded, actually. And very grateful as well.
We used to get a copy of Sight and Sound at our film school, the Film & Television Institute of India. We were all excited when the new edition came out and clamoured to read it. The magazine and its writers hold a special place in every cinephile’s heart.
It was in my final year at the same film school where the first germ of the idea for All We Imagine as Light came about. I had been in and out of hospitals for personal reasons and so when it came to write my final year diploma film, I was drawn to explore this space as the main mise en scène. But as I collected more material, I began to feel overwhelmed. The film seemed too daunting. In a hasty moment, I decided to abandon it.
Some years went by and I chanced upon those initial writings and I felt compelled to re-explore the themes that had touched me then. Although the material still seemed daunting, I followed a daily approach, taking one step at a time. This time I focused on the smaller moments and characters and ever so slowly, the larger structure began to appear. The end result seems so far away at this time. Working on a film is working out the chaos of your mind the best way you can, and making the film that has been keeping you up at night.
Now the film is done. It is out in the world. Many people trusted in it and helped bring it to life. Seeing it now as a complete film still feels strange to me. It still feels like those collected moments, and the fragility of small gestures.
It has been released in several cinemas around the world. And what was extremely important is that it was released in cinemas in India. In a world where Individualism seems to be the norm, watching a movie in a dark hall in the company of strangers feels special to me.
I am overwhelmed with how people have taken it, both the audiences as well as critics.
It is a film made with the love of many collaborators, over many years – a handmade film. I can be only thankful and grateful towards those who treated it as their own. And now I thank you for also accepting it and treating it as your own as well.