---
name: "Payal Kapadia"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/payal-kapadia"
fi1m_id: "payal-kapadia"
imdb_id: "nm10339953"
tmdb_id: 1467320
wikidata_id: "Q107803283"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "4 January 1986"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-30T22:34:10.033232+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Payal Kapadia

## Identity

Payal Kapadia

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/payal-kapadia
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** payal-kapadia
- **IMDb ID:** nm10339953
- **TMDB ID:** 1467320
- **Wikidata ID:** Q107803283
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payal_Kapadia_(filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107803283, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10339953/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1467320

Director. Born 4 January 1986 in Mumbai, India.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 4 January 1986, Mumbai, India
- **Also known as:** Паял Кападия
- **Cannes Film Festival:** 1 Cannes prize (1 won)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payal_Kapadia_(filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107803283, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10339953/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1467320

## Biography

Payal Kapadia is an Indian film director and screenwriter. She was born on 4 January 1986 in Mumbai and studied film direction at the Film and Television Institute of India.

Her debut feature documentary *A Night of Knowing Nothing* (2021) won the L'Œil d'Or at Cannes. Her first fiction feature, *All We Imagine as Light* (2024), which she also wrote, won the Grand Prix at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It was the first Indian film in the main competition in 30 years and the first by an Indian woman director.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *All We Imagine as Light* (2024), Fi1m 84, Writer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/all-we-imagine-as-light.md)

## Complete filmography (14)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Dead Sing for the Living* (2026), Producer
- *Shape of Momo* (2026), Executive Producer
- *If on a Winter's Night* (2025), Executive Producer
- *All We Imagine as Light* (2024), Director, Writer — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/all-we-imagine-as-light.md)
- *A Night of Knowing Nothing* (2022), Director, Writer
- *Between Day and Night* (2021), Director, Writer
- *And What Is the Summer Saying?* (2018), Writer, Director
- *Afternoon Clouds* (2017), Director, Writer
- *The Last Mango Before the Monsoon* (2015), Writer, Director, Editor
- *Watermelon, Fish and Half Ghost* (2014), Director
- *Memory Of Being Here* (2014), Director
- *Weapons of Mass Destruction* (2012), Director
- *Kapadia's Second Film in Mumbai Trilogy*, Writer, Director
- *The Last of Them Plagues*, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Payal Kapadia](https://film.one/media/person/4129888/gallery-606c07d33bcc.jpg) Payal Kapadia — Ariela Ortiz-Barrantes, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/All_We_Imagine_as_Light_Director_Payal_Kapadia_at_2024_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-All_We_Imagine_as_Light_Director_Payal_Kapadia_at_2024_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Director Payal Kapadia at 2024 Cannes Film Festival for the World Premiere of the film All We Imagine As Light](https://film.one/media/person/4129888/gallery-e235f9a0ef1f.jpg) Director Payal Kapadia at 2024 Cannes Film Festival for the World Premiere of the film All We Imagine As Light — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Director_Payal_Kapadia_at_2024_Cannes_Film_Festival_3.jpg/1280px-Director_Payal_Kapadia_at_2024_Cannes_Film_Festival_3.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Director Payal Kapadia at 2024 Cannes Film Festival for the World Premiere of the film All We Imagine As Light](https://film.one/media/person/4129888/gallery-a2b053309818.jpg) Director Payal Kapadia at 2024 Cannes Film Festival for the World Premiere of the film All We Imagine As Light — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Director_Payal_Kapadia_at_2024_Cannes_Film_Festival_2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Director Payal Kapadia and Actress Kani Kusruti at All We Imagine As Light Press Conference at 2024 Cannes Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/4129888/gallery-9d76125b3115.jpg) Director Payal Kapadia and Actress Kani Kusruti at All We Imagine As Light Press Conference at 2024 Cannes Film Festival — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Director_Payal_Kapadia_and_Actress_Kani_Kusruti_at_All_We_Imagine_As_Light_Press_Conference_at_2024_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-Director_Payal_Kapadia_and_Actress_Kani_Kusruti_at_All_We_Imagine_As_Light_Press_Conference_at_2024_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Payal Kapadia](https://film.one/media/person/4129888/gallery-99bebebb073c.jpg) Payal Kapadia — Image via TMDB
- ![Payal Kapadia](https://film.one/media/person/4129888/gallery-78b584fcd6fd.jpg) Payal Kapadia — Image via TMDB
- ![Actress Divya Prabha, director Payal Kapadia, and actress Kani Kusruti at All We Imagine As Light Press Conference at 2024 Cannes Film Festival (2021)](https://film.one/media/person/4129888/gallery-f9d872ba949a.jpg) Actress Divya Prabha, director Payal Kapadia, and actress Kani Kusruti at All We Imagine As Light Press Conference at 2024 Cannes Film Festival (2021) — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Actress_Divya_Prabha%2C_director_Payal_Kapadia%2C_actress_Kani_Kusruti_at_All_We_Imagine_As_Light_Press_Conference_at_2024_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-Actress_Divya_Prabha%2C_director_Payal_Kapadia%2C_actress_Kani_Kusruti_at_All_We_Imagine_As_Light_Press_Conference_at_2024_Cannes_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![From left to right: Actresses Chhaya Kadam, Divya Prabha, director Payal Kapadia, actress Kani Kusruti, and actor Hridhu Haroon at All We Imagine As Light Press (2024)](https://film.one/media/person/4129888/gallery-140a465f7edd.jpg) From left to right: Actresses Chhaya Kadam, Divya Prabha, director Payal Kapadia, actress Kani Kusruti, and actor Hridhu Haroon at All We Imagine As Light Press (2024) — John Sears, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Cast_and_Crew_at_All_We_Imagine_As_Light_Press_Conference_at_2024_Cannes_Film_Festival_3.jpg/1280px-Cast_and_Crew_at_All_We_Imagine_As_Light_Press_Conference_at_2024_Cannes_Film_Festival_3.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Cannes Film Festival — 1 won

- 2024: Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix (won), for *All We Imagine as Light*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/payal-kapadia