‘All We Imagine as Light’ Sets Indian Oscar-Qualifying Run

The two nurses from Kerala, southern India, who are the protagonists of Payal Kapadia‘s Cannes prizewinner “All We Imagine as Light,” will begin their theatrical journey from home.

Written and directed by Kapadia in her narrative directorial debut, the film tells the story of two Kerala women in Mumbai — Prabha, a troubled nurse who receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband, and Anu, her young roommate who is seeking a place to be intimate with her boyfriend. A trip to a beach town allows them to find a space for their desires to manifest. The film, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes earlier this year, stars Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Hridhu Haroon, all of whom hail from Kerala.

Spirit Media, founded by “Baahubali” star Rana Daggubati, which acquired India distribution rights for the film, will release the Malayalam and Hindi-language film in limited cinemas in Kerala from Sept. 21, marking its qualifying release for consideration as India’s candidate in the Oscars‘ international feature category.

The film was produced by Thomas Hakim and Julian Graff through their France-based company Petit Chaos, in co-production with the Indian companies, Zico Maitra’s Chalk & Cheese Films and Ranabir Das’ Another Birth, as well as by the Netherlands’s BALDR Film, Luxembourg’s Les Films Fauves, Italy’s Pulpa Films and France’s Arte France Cinéma. It made the French Oscar shortlist but the country eventually chose auteur Jacques Audiard’s redemption thriller “Emilia Perez,” which won two major awards at Cannes, for the international feature film race.

Malayalam is the dominant language in Kerala. “All We Imagine as Light” will release in Kerala under the Malayalam title “Prabhayay Ninachathellam.” Post the Kerala release, the film will be released across all major cities in India.

“We are proud to be able to bring this incredible film to audiences in India, starting with Kerala where the two leading characters of the story are from. Indian cinema has a rich legacy of storytelling, and this film captures the Indian experience through characters speaking multiple languages coming from different parts of the country with similar shared dreams to a metropolis like Mumbai,” Daggubati told Variety.