New Delhi: Indian filmmakers and artistes have had noteworthy victories at the Cannes film festival this year, with Anasuya Sengupta becoming the first Indian woman to win best actor in the Un Certain Regard category and Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light winning the Grand Prix in the competition category.
Sengupta won the top honour for her performance in The Shameless, by Konstantin Bojanov. The film explores the forbidden romance of a girl who escapes a brothel after killing a policeman and another who is condemned to a life of prostitution.
Upon winning, Sengupta said in her acceptance speech: “More female gaze is the way forward, and the browner, the better.”
The Un Certain Regard category highlights new and innovative cinema.
Payal Kapadia’s film is the first in three decades from India to make it to competition category. It meditates on lives in Mumbai where a nurse receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband and her younger roommate tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her boyfriend.
PAYAL KAPADIA, lauréate du Grand Prix pour ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT.
—
PAYAL KAPADIA, award winner of the Grand Prix for ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT.#Cannes2024 #Palmares #Awards #GrandPrix pic.twitter.com/nE16YOvLeC— Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) May 25, 2024
Sean Baker’s Anora won the Palme d’or.
Cannes is one of the biggest film festivals in the world. The Grand Prix is understood to be the second highest honour in it.
