Filmmaker Payal Kapadia is returning to the Cannes Film Festival as part of its prestigious jury after her Grand Prix win at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024 for her debut feature film All We Imagine As Light, festival organisers said on Monday.
Kapadia, a Film and Television Institute of India graduate, went to the festival to present her short film Afternoon Clouds at the Cannes La Cinefondation in 2017, followed by her non-fiction film A Night of Knowing Nothing, which won the L'Å’il d'or award for best documentary in 2021.
Her film All We Imagine As Light, an ode to female friendship, love and longing in Mumbai, became the first film from India to be part of Cannes Competition after a 30-year gap.
To be headed by French actor Juliette Binoche, the jury for the upcoming 78th edition of the gala also includes names such as American actor and filmmaker Halle Berry, Italian actor Alba Rohrwacher, French-Moroccan writer Leila Slimani, Congolese director-producer Dieudo Hamadi, Korean director and screenwriter Hong Sangsoo, Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas and American actor Jeremy Strong.
The panel will award its top prize, the Palme d'or, to one of the 21 films in Competition. Greta Gerwig awarded Sean Baker's Anora the award in 2024.
According to the official Cannes Film Festival website, the winners will be announced on May 24 at the closing ceremony of the gala.
Binoche, one of the most reputed actors from France, is known for her illustrious career that includes credits like Certified Copy, The English Patient, Three Colors: Blue, Chocolat and most recently The Taste of Things.
In the past, Indian film personalities such as Mrinal Sen, Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapur, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Nandita Das, Sharmila Tagore, Vidya Balan, and Deepika Padukone have served on the Cannes jury.
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