By Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia won the Best International Feature award for All We Imagine as Light at the 2024 Gotham Awards, held on Monday night in New York City. The Gotham Awards celebrate excellence in independent cinema, and Kapadia’s film emerged as a standout winner. While accepting her award, Kapadia said, “It’s our first fiction narrative feature film, so it is super nice to get this.”
Although the Gotham Awards often predict Oscar success, All We Imagine as Light will not compete in the Best International Feature category at the upcoming Academy Awards. India chose Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies as its official entry, despite the international acclaim Kapadia’s film has received, including a historic win at the Cannes Film Festival.
Industry analysts believe this win at the Gotham Awards could improve Kapadia’s chances of earning a Best Director nomination at the Oscars. All We Imagine as Light explores themes of identity and belonging in modern India, and critics continue to praise it, even though India’s Oscar selection committee overlooked it.
This year’s Gotham Awards featured a strong line-up of contenders. Anora led the nominations with four, while Nickel Boys and I Saw the TV Glow received three each. Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light joined several films with two nominations, including His Three Daughters, The Brutalist, and Sing Sing.
The Gotham Awards often highlight films that later achieve Oscar success. Past Best Feature winners like The Hurt Locker, Moonlight, and Everything Everywhere All at Once went on to win the Academy’s top prize. While the Gotham’s International Feature category doesn’t directly correspond to the Oscars, the recognition could increase All We Imagine as Light‘s global visibility during awards season.
