How Payal Kapadia is breaking barriers at Cannes

Brut India

Payal Kapadia just became the first Indian director to be nominated in Best Director category at the Golden Globes for her film,  All We Imagine. Here's when she spoke to Brut about her journey at the Cannes Film Festival 2024.

Transcript

00:00I wish that now it doesn't take 30 years more for another film to come.

00:06I took like 5 years to make this film.

00:09Even in Cannes, it's just 4 films, 4 female directors in competition.

00:15Making a film is really difficult.

00:17Hi, this is Payal Kapadia for Brute.

00:31I wish that now it doesn't take 30 years more for another film to come.

00:38We had no expectation that the film would be in competition.

00:41It's not a very big film and when we found out, I was really happy and nervous

00:47and felt really privileged that the film would get the kind of exposure that Cannes gives it.

00:53So, it's a mixed feeling of being really nervous and really excited.

00:59I feel we make great films in India.

01:01In every region, with every language, there are so many directors who are so good.

01:09So, I really can't understand what it would be.

01:13But over the years also, so many Indian directors' films,

01:19even in the past, which are considered to be more art house,

01:22like Hrithik Ghatak or John Abraham from Kerala,

01:26I don't think that their films have shown in Cannes also,

01:29although they are phenomenal filmmakers in our film history.

01:34So, I don't know what it is and why this is so.

01:37But having said that, I think Indian films, from every state,

01:42there is a self-contained ecosystem and we have our audiences

01:45and we have our directors being appreciated within the country.

01:48So, maybe Cannes is not something that everybody even knows about.

01:56Earlier, it was going to be a film more about Mumbai

01:59and women who come to work in Mumbai and make it their home.

02:05But over time, the film became more about friendship between the women in the film

02:12because I think as I grow older, I rely more on my friends.

02:18And I think it happens to all of us who leave home and move to a different city

02:22and it's our friends who kind of become our family.

02:27I took like five years to make this film.

02:32In the middle, I made another film.

02:34So, I generally take a lot of time to do things

02:37or maybe this time it took more time because of the other film that I was doing

02:41and also to raise money for this film because it was raised entirely with money from Europe.

02:48So, I just took a lot of time.

02:52And I think as time passes, you change as a person.

02:57You grow up and grow older and your preoccupations change.

03:01So, I think that all those things come into your film and into your work whether you like it or not.

03:15Even in Cannes, it's just four films, four female directors in competition

03:21and how many women have won also, it's not enough, I feel.

03:27I think that there are a lot of women making amazing films and we are underrepresented everywhere.

03:33In India, I think in terms of directors now, there are more and more.

03:37Like there are in Sandhya Suri also is there and there are directors like there was Suchi's film also.

03:45So, I think there are little bit more opportunities for women as directors

03:50but I think like in terms of cinematography and sound is two technical departments

03:57where I feel we really need more opportunities for women.

04:09I started going to film festivals in Mumbai and there used to be three festivals that used to happen.

04:15There was one which was Experimenta and I still have their bag.

04:19And it was a really nice festival which used to bring like really experimental films.

04:24And there used to be NIF, which is still going on, which used to have documentary films and student films

04:29and then there was MAMI.

04:31So, we used to get like a whole range of cinema.

04:34When you are a student, like you have time.

04:36So, we used to go for all the festivals and somehow I started seeing and I was thinking like

04:42okay there is such a range of things you can think about and you know do and so many ways of telling.

04:50Then I saw some short films from students from the FTII and they were really like

04:59nothing like I had seen before.

05:02They were really trying different things.

05:04So, I was like what is this place where students are allowed to you know experiment in this way.

05:09So, I found out a bit more about it and then I found out about FTII.

05:13And I was really keen to go and I applied but I didn't get in.

05:18And then I worked a bit thinking okay maybe I don't know anything and I should like

05:23you know learn a bit more about filmmaking because I was doing a bachelor's degree in economics.

05:28So, it's nothing to do with anything.

05:30And then I started, I tried to like learn a bit more and then I applied again.

05:35And I got into FTII and for me those five years were like the best learning I could ever have.

05:47Making a film is really difficult and I think everybody finds it difficult.

05:51I am sure no matter how many times you make a film, it's hard.

05:57But also enjoyable and it's also a privilege to be able to do this.

06:01So, I am not saying this in a negative way.

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