All We Imagine As Light - Cork International Film Festival

In today’s Mumbai, Nurse Prabha’s routine is disrupted by the delivery of a gift sent from Germany by her estranged husband. Her younger roommate, Anu, is in love with a Muslim boy and tries in vain to find a spot in the city where they could be intimate.

When Prabha’s colleague, Parvaty, she suggests a trip to her birth village by the sea, the three women may finally find a space where they can fully express their desires.

Filming her three female protagonists like Hollywood stars despite the fact that they are anonymous and poor, Payal Kapadia uses a melodramatic approach anchored in the constraints of the daily lives - Parvaty, the oldest, loses her home; Anu, the youngest, must keep her love secret because the boy is Muslim; and Prabha remains distraught by her husband's exile to Germany.

One of the most delightful recent revelations of the cinema world, All We Imagine as Light was the first Indian film to be selected in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years and went on to win the prestigious Grand Prix (second only to the Palme d’Or).