| Payal Kapadia | |
| Birth Place: | Mumbai, India |
| Nationality: | Indian |
| Alma Mater: | Film and Television Institute of India |
| Occupation: | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years Active: | 2014–present |
Payal Kapadia (born 1986) is an Indian filmmaker. She won the Golden Eye award for best documentary film at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival for her film A Night of Knowing Nothing.[1] [2] [3] [4] In 2017, her film Afternoon Clouds was the only Indian film that was selected for the 70th Cannes Film Festival.[5] In 2024, she won the Grand Prix at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival for her film All We Imagine as Light.[6]
Born in Mumbai in 1986[7] to painter and video artist Nalini Malani, Kapadia went to Rishi Valley School, a boarding school in Andhra Pradesh. Here she had her first exposure to avant-garde filmmakers like Ritwik Ghatak and Andrei Tarkovsky as she was part of the school's film club. She studied at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. She got a one-year master's degree from Sophia College, Mumbai.[8] She then went on to study film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India,[9] where she was selected on her second attempt in 2012. In between for five years she worked in Mumbai, in advertising and assisting a video artist. In 2015 she led the protest program against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as chairman in FTII, and the authority filed FIR against her.[10] The institute authority restricted the grants, and she was denied scholarships.[11] [12]
| + † – Indicates Documentary film | Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=65 | Director | width=65 | Writer | width=65 | Other | |
| 2014 | Watermelon, Fish and Half Ghost[13] | Short film | ||||
| 2015 | Afternoon Clouds | |||||
| 2017 | The Last Mango Before the Monsoon | |||||
| 2018 | And What is the Summer Saying † | |||||
| 2021 | A Night of Knowing Nothing † | |||||
| 2024 | All We Imagine as Light | |||||