Payal Kapadia To Head Cannes Critics Jury

Payal Kapadia, celebrated for her Grand Prix win at Cannes, has been appointed jury president for the 65th Cannes Critics Week.

All We Imagine As Light Director Payal Kapadia will be president of the jury for the 65th Cannes Critics Week, which runs parallel to the main festival and nurtures emerging voices in cinema.

Kapadia, who became the first Indian filmmaker to win the Grand Prix award at Cannes in 2024, will lead a panel of international jury members including Quebecois actor Theodore Pellerin, singer-songwriter Oklou, Ghanaian-British producer Ama Ampadu and journalist and director of the Bangkok World Film Festival Donsaron Kovitvanitcha.

Supporting Independent Cinema

The festival sidebar, known as Semaine de la critique, is organised by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. The 65th Cannes film festival will run from May 13 to 21.

'At a time where independent cinema is being eroded in every country, supporting the first works of filmmakers is almost a resistance to the market forces. Film criticism is one of the key components of the independent and art house film ecosystem,' Kapadia said.

'The first films are often freer, more daring and fearless, having an individual voice and to champion those is absolutely essential. First films are also fragile and to be nurtured in a section like Critics Week, helps them blossom amongst already established filmmaker's work, Kapadia stated.

Kapadia will present the La Semaine de la Critique Ami Paris Grand Prize

Kapadia studied at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Her short films Afternoon Clouds and And What is the Summer Saying were selected at the Cinefondation and the Berlinale.

Her first feature documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing was selected at the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 2021 and won L'Oeil d'Or for Best Documentary.

All We Imagine As Light, which documented the lives of two working women's lives in Mumbai, shot Kapadia among the most promising filmmakers across the world with its win at the Cannes Film Festival.

Kapadia will present La Semaine de la Critique Ami Paris Grand Prize for best feature film, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for best actor or actress, and the Sony Discovery Prize for best short film.

Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff