Oscars 2025: Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light falls short to Emilia Perez
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Despite high expectations, Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light lost the Best Foreign Film award at the 2025 Critics Choice Awards to French director Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez.
The film was in the running alongside other international contenders, including Flow (Latvia), I'm Still Here (Brazil), Kneecap (Ireland), and The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany).
This marks the second major defeat for All We Imagine As Light against Emilia Perez, which also claimed the Best Non-English Language Motion Picture at the Golden Globe Awards 2025. At the Globes, Kapadia’s film competed against Emilia Perez, I’m Still Here, and The Seed of the Sacred Fig.
Adding to the disappointment, All We Imagine As Light did not secure a nomination for the 2025 Academy Awards. It will not be competing for an Oscar in the Best International Feature Film category.
While these recent losses are a setback, All We Imagine As Light has already made history.
The film became the first Indian movie to win the Grand Prix at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival - one of the most prestigious honors in world cinema. Since then, it has received widespread recognition, earning accolades such as the Jury Grand Prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Best International Feature at the Gotham Awards, and Best International Film at the New York Film Critics Circle.