Payal Kapadia

Payal Kapadia (born 4 January 1986) is an Indian filmmaker. In 2017, her short film Afternoon Clouds was the only Indian film selected for the 70th Cannes Film Festival. 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.

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

Early life and education Payal Kapadia was born in Mumbai on 4 January 1986 to painter and video artist Nalini Malani and psychoanalyst Shailesh Kapadia.

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.

She then went on to study film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India, 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. It also earned her nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language.

In 2025, Kapadia was invited to serve as a jury member at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. She was also invited to join the Writers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is a signatory of the Film Workers for Palestine boycott pledge that was published in September 2025.

Filmography

Accolades Award Year Category Work Result Asian Film Awards 2025 Best Film All We Imagine as Light Best Director Best Screenplay Asia Pacific Screen Awards 2021 Best Film A Night of Knowing Nothing 2024 All We Imagine as Light Best Director Best Screenplay Jury Grand Prize British Academy Film Awards 2025 Best Film Not in the English Language All We Imagine as Light Cahiers du Cinéma 2024 Annual Top 10 All We Imagine as Light Camden International Film Festival 2021 Cinematic Vision Award A Night of Knowing Nothing Cannes Film Festival 2021 Caméra d'Or A Night of Knowing Nothing L'Œil d'or 2024 Palme d'Or All We Imagine as Light Grand Prix Prix des Cinémas Art et Essai – Special Mention Chicago Film Critics Association 2024 Milos Stehlik Award for Breakthrough Filmmaker All We Imagine as Light Chicago International Film Festival 2024 Silver Hugo – Jury Prize All We Imagine as Light Cinema Eye Honors 2023 Outstanding Nonfiction Feature A Night of Knowing Nothing Outstanding Direction Outstanding Debut Directors Guild of America Awards 2025 Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film All We Imagine as Light Fribourg International Film Festival 2019 Best International Short Film Award And What Is the Summer Saying? Golden Globe Awards 2025 Best Director – Motion Picture All We Imagine as Light Gotham Awards 2024 Best Director All We Imagine as Light Best International Feature Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival 2021 Best Film Award A Night of Knowing Nothing Mill Valley Film Festival 2024 Mind the Gap Award Mirage Film Festival 2022 MIRAGE Award – Directing A Night of Knowing Nothing Montclair Film Festival 2024 Fiction Feature Prize All We Imagine as Light National Society of Film Critics 2025 Best Director All We Imagine as Light Best Foreign Language Film New York Film Critics Circle 2024 Best International Film All We Imagine as Light San Diego Asian Film Festival 2017 Best International Short Afternoon Clouds San Sebastián International Film Festival 2024 RTVE-Another Look Award All We Imagine as Light Taiwan International Documentary Festival 2022 Merit Prize A Night of Knowing Nothing Toronto International Film Festival 2021 Amplify Voices Award Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2023 Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize