While Kayal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine As Light” keeps topping critics polls, the Film Federation of India (FFI) is continuing to defend its snub of the film for Oscar submission in the international film race.
Just a brief recap, Kapadia’s acclaimed Cannes drama was snubbed in favor of “Laapataa Ladies” by the 13-member Indian select committee, which was this year headed by Assamese director Jahnu Barua. The official reason given was that “All We Imagine As Light” felt “too european,” and did not have the Indian spirit the committee was looking for.
Now, in an interview with the Hindustan Times, Barua has doubled down on the decision, and is even saying that they felt the film was “very poor technically”:
[The backlash was] very uncalled for actually. Why should people say such things? It is very unfortunate. People should try to accept it as the jury’s decision. I have had many of my films go to many competitions, at some places they were awarded, and at some places, they failed to win. That doesn’t mean I should have a negative review of that process... We should be respectful towards the process […] The jury felt that her film was very poor technically.
Barua goes on to critcize Kapadia’s film as lacking the “Indian-ness” needed to qualify for representing the country, and that in comparison “Laapataa Ladies” had “had all the right elements, and presented the social chaos we go through brilliantly.”
The actual cast and crew of Kapadia’s film is 95% Indian (the most significant exception is the film's editor, Clément Pinteaux, who is French). The idea that there's a non “indian-ness” to the storytelling is absurd. Does this mean that every Indian Oscar pick has to feel like it was made by an Indian and follow “regulatory” Indian filmmaking techniques?
With that said, it’s not just India who messed up their Oscar selection this year. Plenty of other countries ended snubbing acclaimed festival films such as “Evil Does Not Exist” (Japan), “April” (Georgia), and “My Favorite Cake” (Iran).
“All We Imagine As Light” is a lovely film that’s all about the vibes — either you get onto its wavelengths, or you don’t. Is it the best film of the year? I don’t believe so, but there are certainly many who are championing it in the UK and US, and that’s where most Oscar voters helm from.
