Our Bureau
Mumbai
Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia, who won the Grand Prix for ‘All We Imagine As Light’ at Cannes 2024, has now become the jury of Cannes 2025, the upcoming 78th edition of the annual festival to be held next month.
Kapadia first screened her short film Afternoon Clouds at the Cannes La Cinefondation in 2017, followed by her non-fiction film A Night of Knowing Nothing, which won the L’il d’Or award for best documentary in 2021.
Kapadia’s debut feature, All We Imagine As Light, was the first film from India to participate in the Cannes Competition after a 30-year gap. The film showcasing female bonding and survival, had Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha in the lead roles.
Heading the panel this year is French actress Juliette Binoche (Certified Copy, The English Patient) with Halle Berry, Jeremy Strong of ‘The Apprentice’, and South Korean filmmaker Hong Sansoo, among others. Italian actor Alba Rohrwacher, Congolese director-documentarist and producer Dieudo Hamadi, French-Moroccan writer Leila Slimani, Mexican filmmaker and producer Carlos Reygados are some of the other members on the Cannes jury 2025.
The festival will honor Hollywood actor and producer Robert De Niro with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The actor will also conduct a masterclass for attendees on May 14 at the Debussy Theatre.
The panel jury will decide on the winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or from the 21 films that are competing this year. The winners will be announced on May 24 during the closing ceremony. The 10-day festival is slated to begin on May 13 and will be hosted by French actor Laurent Lafitte.
