We’re delighted to spotlight the exciting newcomer Payal Kapadia’s beautiful short film Afternoon Clouds to coincide with the release of her latest feature film, the Cannes Grand Prix Winner All We Imagine as Light — the first Indian film to be included in Cannes’ Main Competition in 30 years. Made as a studio exercise during her second year at the Film and Television Institute of India, Afternoon Clouds shows Kapadia’s preternatural skills as a cinematic storyteller.

Much like her new film, Afternoon Clouds revolves around two women from different generations who have distinct views on love. Kaki is a 60-year-old widow who remembers her husband fondly, while Malti is a domestic worker who longs for love — and experiences a fleeting romance when she meets an itinerant sailor by chance. Kapadia made the film to understand her own relationship between work and “things like marriage, love and commitment”; in fact, she believes most people make films “to understand ourselves and the things around us.”

“The film looks at the notion of love in a space where these things are not easily spoken about. Through it, I am trying to explore the ideas of vulnerability and impermanence.” PAYAL KAPADIA

Throughout the film, Kapadia includes a series of paintings. Her filmmaking has always been inspired by all sorts of artworks — whether it be film, music, or visual art  — and in this case, paintings by the Indian artist Arpita Singh helped her identify the unique blend of lightness and melancholy that drives Afternoon Clouds. Drawing from the world of visual arts as much as it does from nature, arthouse films, experimental cinema, and her own observations of the world, Kapadia has developed a singular cinematic voice with just a few films.

Payal Kapadia is a Mumbai-based filmmaker whose films address the passage of time, political issues, cultural traditions, love, and dreams. The short films she made as a student at the Film and Television Institute of India showcase a distinctive approach to filmmaking that moves between the worlds of documentary and fiction. Her feature debut documentary, A Night of Knowing Nothing, earned multiple awards on the festival circuit and stands out as a powerful and provocative political comment on the state of cultural institutions in India. Her follow-up, the acclaimed All We Imagine as Light, has earned Kapadia plaudits around the globe, including a position in the influential Time100 Next 2024 list.

Text written by Nicolas Pedrero-Setzer.