Payal Kapadia Named Cannes Critics Week Jury President

Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia, whose film "All We Imagine As Light" earned the Grand Prix at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, has been named president of the jury for the 65th edition of Cannes Critics Week. The sidebar event, which runs parallel to the main festival and focuses on emerging cinematic voices, is scheduled for May 13 to 21 in Cannes, France.

Kapadia will lead a diverse international panel that includes Quebecois actor Théodore Pellerin, singer-songwriter Oklou, Ghanaian-British producer Ama Ampadu, and Donsaron Kovitvanitcha, a journalist and director of the Bangkok World Film Festival. Organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, the section highlights debut and second films from up-and-coming directors, providing a platform amid challenges facing independent cinema worldwide.

Kapadia's selection underscores her rising prominence in global filmmaking. A graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, she first gained attention with her short films "Afternoon Clouds," selected for the Cannes Cinéfondation section, and "And What Is the Summer Saying," featured at the Berlinale. Her debut feature documentary, "A Night of Knowing Nothing,"...