An Indian filmmaker received an 8-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. The audience kept clapping when the film of Payal Kapadia ended.

The film of Payal Kapadia ‘All We Imagine As Light’ made a splash at its world premiere in Cannes on Thursday (May 23) night and garnered rave reviews from international critics. ‘All We Imagine…’ is the first Indian film to qualify for the festival’s competition section in 30 years.

The film received an eight-minute standing ovation after its screening, which was certainly one of the longest screenings of this edition of the film festival.

Payal Kapadia competes with European heavyweights like Jacques Audiard and Yorgos Lanthimos, American authors David Cronenberg and Paul Schrader, and Asian visionary Jia Zhangke.

Whether the film wins a trophy or not, the screening impressed international critics. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian praise the film for its freshness and emotional clarity, and Kapadia’s storytelling compared to Satyajit Ray in the classics Mahanagar and Aranyer Din Ratri.

The initial reviews after the screening were excellent. International critic Fionnuala Holligan wrote, “This debut in fiction by a talented documentary maker is reminiscent of the work of Lucrecia Martel or Alice Rohrwacher, yet it has a strong romantic element that also reminds one of Wong Kar-wai’s love affair with the city of Hong Kong.”

Will the jury understand the emotion behind the enthusiastic response to ‘All We Imagine…’, or witness an eight-minute standing ovation?

Will Payal Kapadia win the Palme d’Or? We will only find out when the awards are revealed.

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