‘Everybody Should Be a Feminist Filmmaker’
The unassuming story of three working-class Indian women has captured the world’s attention. Here’s why.
“All We Imagine as Light” is a movie about love and longing, identity and patriarchy, and the power of female friendship. Last year, it became the first Indian film to win the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, and it was nominated for multiple awards including the Golden Globes and a British Academy Film Award. It also showed up on Barack Obama’s favorite movies of 2024 list.
The film follows the story of Prabha and Anu, nurses (and roommates) from the southern state of Kerala, as they navigate life in Mumbai. From the outset, the director, Payal Kapadia sought to explore the friction that could emerge between two women with very different worldviews living in close quarters—and how that “causes them to change the way they look at themselves and each other.”
The contrast is drawn early. We learn that Prabha’s husband left for Germany shortly after their arranged marriage, while Anu is secretly dating a Muslim man named Shiaz even as her Hindu parents bombard her with photos of potential suitors. The third protagonist is Parvaty, a cook at the hospital where the nurses work, who Prabha tries to help in a fight against eviction.
Mumbai is a central character too, with a tracking shot and voiceovers from real-life migrant workers taking viewers into the heart of Dadar, an area once home to cotton mills that have since been replaced with luxury shopping malls and trendy cafes.
The result is an intimate portrait of three working-class women that is both a joyful celebration of sisterhood and a searing story of dissent. Kapadia skillfully raises questions about gender, class, caste, religion, and migration in contemporary India—and how they are connected—without once telling the viewer what to think.
She shared thoughts with The Persistent on feminist filmmaking, avoiding tropes, and building empathy. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Why did you put women, particularly working-class women, at the center of your film?
It was very instinctive. The nursing profession was something I wanted to look into because in India it’s one where a woman can leave their home state and go to another state to work, and the parents are happy because it's seen as a very respectable job. I was also spending time in hospitals and noticed that it was the nurses that pretty much ran the place.
