Festival Film: All We Imagine As Light

 

 

The first Indian film to compete at the Cannes Film Festival for 30 years, All We Imagine Is Light explores the lives of three Hindu working class women living in Mumbai, a city of more than 26,000,000 people. Two of them are nurses who are roommates – middle-aged Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and much younger Anu (Divya Prabha). Their friend is Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), a chef at the hospital.

 

Prabha is married to a man who came to India for an arranged marriage, then returned to work in Germany. She takes her marriage seriously, but he has not been in touch with her for over a year – his only contact is to unexpectedly and anonymously send her a large modern rice cooker.

Anu has a clandestine affair going on with Shiaz (Hridhu Haroon) who is a Muslim, and marriage would certainly not be allowed by either parents.

 

 

Parvaty is suddenly evicted from her home, which is to be demolished to build high-rise apartments. With no proof of ownership, she decides to return to Ratnagiri, the coastal village she comes from, where she can get work. Her two friends accompany her to help with the move, and Shiaz follows to be with Anu.

The cinematography conveys the noises and tensions of living in a large class divided city, and the quiet of living in a village among friends, and there is an excellent musical score.

 

 

This is the first feature film directed and written by Payal Kapadia (who made documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing). She is developing two more feature films set in Mumbai, potentially forming a trilogy.

The international production involved companies from France, India, Holland, Luxembourg and Italy. It won the Grand Prix at Cannes and has been named one of the top five international films of 2024 by the National Board of Review; the first to be directed by an Indian woman.

115 minutes.

Showing at UWA Somerville in Crawley form Monday January 27 to Sunday February 2.

 

Watch the trailer…

 

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