Following its huge success in cinemas around the world, critical acclaim, and recognition for multiple awards, including a BAFTA nomination for Film Not In The English Language, Mumbai-based writer/director Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner, All We Imagine as Light, will be available to stream exclusively on BFI Player in the UK from 17 February 2025. 

A BFI Blu-ray/DVD release follows on 3 March.

Since its release in cinemas on 29 November 2024, the film has taken over £370K at the UK box office so far. Subscribers to BFI Player will now be able to watch it in the comfort of their own homes – via BFI Player’s website, mobile and connected TV apps – wherever they are in the UK. 

Alongside the release will sit a 30-minute filmed interview with Payal Kapadia, hosted by broadcaster and film critic Ashanti Omkar, intended to provide an insightful accompaniment for viewers to see once they have watched the film. 

Newly available to subscribers on an expanded range of leading devices, BFI Player is curated by the BFI (British Film Institute) and features a diverse collection of films, from exclusive new releases to acclaimed masterpieces. Following a free 14-day trial, a contract-free subscription is just £6.99 per month or £65 per year.

Featuring Kani Kusruti (Prabha) Divya Prabha (Anu) and Chhaya Kadam (Parvaty) in the lead roles, All We Imagine as Light was the first Indian film to be selected in Official Competition at Cannes in three decades. Payal Kapadia also made history as the first female Indian filmmaker ever to have a film in this prestigious section of the festival.  

After winning the Cannes Grand Prix, the film has gone on to receive international recognition. As well as the BAFTA nomination, there have been two Golden Globe nominations, for Foreign Language Film and Director of a Motion Picture, a British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) nomination for Best International Independent Film and two London Critics’ Circle Film Awards nominations for Film of the Year and Foreign Language Film of the Year. 

Award wins include the Gotham Award for Best International Feature, the Asian Pacific Screen Awards Grand Jury Prize, and the Silver Hugo at the Chicago International Film Festival. All We Imagine as Light has Best International Feature wins from the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Chicago Film Critics Association and San Diego Film Critics Society. 

In the end of year polls for 2024 it was named Film of the Year by the UK’s Sight and Sound magazine, The New York Times, Associated Press and Film Comment critics’ polls. It recently won a Golden Tomato from the Rotten Tomatoes website for ‘Best Limited Release Movie’.

In Mumbai, thoughtful Nurse Prabha’s routine is upset when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband. Her younger, flightier and rebellious roommate, Anu, tries in vain to find a spot in the city to be intimate with her secret boyfriend. Their friend Parvaty fights to stay in her home without any requisite paperwork left by her late husband. A trip to a beach town allows them each to find a space for their desires to manifest.

Payal Kapadia studied Film Direction at the Film & Television Institute of India. Her short films, Afternoon Clouds (2017) and And What Is The Summer Saying (2018), premiered at the Cannes Cinéfondation and the Berlinale respectively. Her first feature film, A Night of Knowing Nothing (2021) premiered at the 2021 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, where it won the Golden Eye Documentary Prize. 

All We Imagine as Light is a France-India-The Netherlands-Luxembourg co-production. The producers are Thomas Hakim and Julien Graff of Petit Chaos in Paris, and Zico Maitra of Chalk & Cheese Films in Mumbai.