Associated Press
Payal Kapadia, second from left , winner of the grand prize for ‘All We Imagine as Light,’ poses with Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam and Kani Kusruti after the Cannes awards ceremony. [Source: AP]
“All We Imagine As Light,” about sisterhood in modern Mumbai, won the Grand Prix, Cannes’ second-highest honor.
Payal Kapadia’s second feature was the first Indian in competition in Cannes in 30 years.
Afterward, Kapadia urged a wide understanding of Indian cinema, saying “there’s amazing work going on in our country.”
“Not just Bollywood,” said Kapadia.
The jury awarded a special prize to Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” a drama made secretly in Iran.
Days ahead of the film’s premiere, Rasoulof, facing an eight-year prison sentence, fled Iran on foot.
His film, which includes real footage from the 2022-2023 demonstrations in Iran, channels Iranian oppression into a family drama. The Cannes crowd met an emotional Rasoulof with a lengthy standing ovation.
Coralie Fargeat’s body horror film “The Substance,” starring Demi Moore as a Hollywood actress who goes to gory extremes to remain youthful, won for best screenplay.
“I really believe that movies can change the world, so I hope this movie will be a little stone to build new foundations,” said Fargeat. “I really think we need a revolution and I don’t think it has really started yet.”
Some thought Moore, who attended the awards ceremony, might take best actress. But that honor instead went to an ensemble of actors: Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz for Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez,” a Spanish-language musical about a Mexican drug lord who transitions to a woman.
Gascón, who accepted the award, is the first trans actor to win a major prize at Cannes.
