When Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light (2024) won the Grand Jury Prize at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, it marked a historic win for Indian cinema.

The film's success soared in the following months, with numerous awards at other prestigious film festivals and two nominations at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards.

This only confirmed the film's critical acclaim and position as a masterpiece of contemporary cinema. It brought hope for all the Independent filmmakers across India with the understanding that it is the content that matters and Indian cinema still has the potential to garner acclaim across the world provided they tell authentic and compelling stories that resonate with global audiences.

But we should also remember the reality that All We Imagine As Light was part of a co-production by France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Italy, which helped it break through distribution barriers and reach wider audiences.

However, does co-production come with its own set of terms and conditions? National Award-winning documentary filmmaker Shilpi Gulati, in her article, stated, 'Many are conflicted by their participation in “labs” that flatten film form into character-driven narratives that feed into the Western, almost colonial, gaze toward Indian social and political realities.'

But if one looks into Kapadia's background, she studied at the Film and Television Institute of India, and her student film Afternoon Clouds (2016) was selected for the Cinéfondation section of the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2021, her documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing won an award at the same festival. Many filmmakers have had their student films selected or even win awards at Cannes, but not all of them have been able to achieve a similar feat like Kapadia, due to various reasons. So, when Kapadia cracked how a co-production works, it was nothing less than a triumph.

Yes, it is true that in co-production ventures, one has to adjust their vision to a certain extent, but this largely depends on the willingness of the filmmaker to collaborate and trade-off to align with the interests and perspectives of the other parties involved.

Moreover, a few filmmakers seem to believe that a film made with certain adjustments, which allows it to reach a wider audience, is arguably better than remaining relatively unknown.

Therefore, under such circumstances, isn't it better to connect with a larger audience, even if it means making some concessions?

All We Imagine As Light is recently in the news regarding the Film Federation of India’s (FFI) refusal to submit it as India's official entry for the 97th Academy Awards.

In an interview, the jury, headed by acclaimed Assamese filmmaker Jahnu Barua, said the jury felt that the film was very poor technically.

However, in an interview, the filmmaker was asked why her film was not selected, and she responded, "I've been asked this question so much, so I've given it a lot of thought. What exactly could it be? One answer could be that because it was co production - which is a very new thing in India - maybe they thought it was completely produced by Europe and in that sense, it was a European film. But that's the only conclusion I can make about it, because what is really an Indian film? There are so many Indian films."

So, whether we agree or disagree, co-production enables a film to have a global reach, but it also involves significant challenges.

But is it easy to get into a co-production? No, it’s not. It requires careful negotiation, alignment of interests, and navigating complex financial landscapes.

Whether one chooses to criticize the undue external influence or believes in the benefits of wider distribution and greater funding opportunities is ultimately a matter of personal opinion.

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