A delicate ode to female friendship, Payal Kapadia’s narrative debut brilliantly captures the pace, colours and atmosphere of life in modern Mumbai. Nurse Prabha’s routine is upset when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger, more rebellious roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her secret boyfriend. Their colleague Parvaty fights to stay in her home without the requisite paperwork from her late husband. A trip to a beach town allows them each to find a space for their desires to manifest. All We Imagine as Light was the first Indian film to be selected in Official Competition at Cannes in three decades. Kapadia also made history as the first female Indian filmmaker to have a film in this prestigious section of the festival.

Notes by David O’Mahony