Payal Kapadia returns to Cannes a year later as jury member, see pics

Payal Kapadia (Pic/AFP)

Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia has returned to Cannes Film Festival 2025,a year after her historic win. The All We Imagine As Light director returned to the prestigious film festival as a jury member. She made an appearance for a photocall at the opening ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival as part of the prestigious gala's jury panel.

Payal Kapadia returns to Cannes 2025

This marks Kapadia's return to Cannes a year after she charted history as the first Indian director to win the Grand Prix for her debut feature film "All We Imagine As Light", a joint India and France production. The Malayalam-Hindi movie became the first film from India to be part of Cannes Competition after a 30-year gap. For the photocall, Kapadia appeared alongside Cannes jury president and French cinema star Juliette Binoche, American actor and filmmaker Halle Berry, Italian actor.

Kapadia chose a blue blouse and a red asymmetrical skirt ensemble by designer Payal Khandwala, who also dressed the director for her appearance on the red carpet of the Golden Globes 2025 ceremony earlier this year.

About Payal Kapadia's journey at Cannes

Kapadia, a Film and Television Institute of India graduate, went to the festival to present her short film Afternoon Clouds at the Cannes La Cinéfondation in 2017, followed by her non-fiction film A Night of Knowing Nothing, which won the L'Œil d'Or award for best documentary in 2021.

Her film All We Imagine As Light, an ode to female friendship, love, and longing in Mumbai, became the first film from India to be part of the Cannes Competition after a 30-year gap. The film had a grand screening last year at the festival which was also attended by the its cast including Kani Kusruti, Chhaya Kadam and Divya Prabha.

The Jury for Cannes 2025

Payal will be part of the jury along with several other members, including American actress and filmmaker Halle Berry, Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher, French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, Congolese director, documentarist, and producer Dieudo Hamadi, Korean director and screenwriter Hong Sangsoo, Mexican director, screenwriter, and producer Carlos Reygadas, and American actor Jeremy Strong.

The Cannes jury panel will award its top prize, the Palme d'or, to one of the 21 films in Competition. Winners will be announced on May 24 at the closing ceremony of the festival.

In the past, Indian film personalities such as Mrinal Sen, Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapur, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Nandita Das, Sharmila Tagore, Vidya Balan, and Deepika Padukone have served on the Cannes jury.