Nominated for a Golden Globe, Payal Kapadia’s groundbreaking film All We Imagine As Light created history as the first female Indian director from the most populated nation in the world.

With the release of her debut feature film, 38-year-old Kapadia has been riding high ever since taking home the Grand Prix at May’s Cannes Film Festival.

In addition to being nominated for Best Picture in a Non-English Language, the 82nd Golden Globes also recognized the film for Best Director.

In Mumbai, a city where millions of dreams are crushed by reality, the Hindi-Malayalam film deftly connects the experiences of three oppressed women through loneliness, misery, and empathy.

According to Clarisse Loughrey, who gave the book five stars in her review, “All We Imagine as Light is a portrait not only of a place, and all the social and political forces that drive it, but of the intensity of feeling it coughs up.”

Kapadia expressed her profound gratitude to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) for their award and expressed her profound honor at being nominated in a statement. Everyone who put their heart and soul into making the film deserves this.

The film All We Imagine as Light hit Indian cinemas on November 22. Kapadia said on Tuesday that the film will get a limited re-release this coming Friday.

She will be up against Jacques Audiard, Sean Baker, Anora, Edward Berger, Brady Corbet, The Brutalist, and Coralie Fargeat in the Best Director category for Emilia Pérez, The Substance, and Conclave, respectively.

In addition to taking home the prize for Best International Feature, Kapadia’s picture was named Best International picture at the Gotham Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.

Despite widespread appreciation and widespread agreement that it was a top-tier picture of the year, India passed on submitting it as their best foreign film entry to the Oscars.

As the president of the Film Federation of India, Ravi Kottarakara, explained, the selection committee believed “that they were watching a European film taking place in India, not an Indian film taking place in India,” therefore they submitted Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies to the Oscars.

Kapadia expressed her happiness with the film that was selected when speaking to the Associated Press. The film is excellent. Very much to my liking. However, I am unsure about the value of these kinds of assertions.

Thirteen males served on the selecting committee. How authentically Indian is that? Then it’s not a big deal for me.

The Los Angeles Times exposed the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) in 2021 for allegedly lacking diversity in its voting body, leading to a boycott of the 2022 celebration. Three years later, this year’s Golden Globes ceremony follows suit.

Since then, the group has undergone reform, eliminating troublesome voters and increasing membership from 85 to 300, with 10% Black representation.

Beginning at 5pm (local time)/8 pm ET on Sunday, January 5, the 82nd Golden Globes will take place at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.