If you’ve been waiting to watch All We Imagine As Light, which won the Grand Prix at the 77th Cannes Film Festival last month, you might have to wait a bit longer. For several critically acclaimed film festival, AWIAL’s fate depends on if OTT platforms or theatrical distributors deem it potentially profitable.

While the Payal Kapadia directorial might still get a release due to it bagging the prestigious honour, of late films such as Gajendra Ahire’s The Signature, Anurag Kashyap’s Kennedy and Karan Tejpal’s Stolen — all of which have travelled to global film festivals, drawn rave reviews and even bagged awards, are yet to release in theatres in India or find a home on OTT.

The Indian distribution system “is heavily lopsided in favour of mainstream films” over independent, smaller festival entries, notes film critic Murtaza Ali Khan. The general uncertainty around the return on investment, too, dissuades takers.

National Award-winning filmmaker Sudhanshu Saria, who directed the much-raved-about Sanaa, points out that for middlemen “whose job it is to figure out which film should get to viewers, it seems less risky to go with [films] that feature known faces”.

Actor Adil Hussain, whose Footprints On Water recently won the Audience Choice Award at the Indie Meme Film Festival, says, “How do decision makers on OTTs know a film won’t work, if they haven’t gone all the way, like they would, for a commercial film?”

Actor Shahana Goswami, whose film Santosh had its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at the 77th Cannes Film Festival last month, notes that since smaller films are made on modest budgets, they can’t compete with blockbuster releases.

“These films are made independently and there’s very little money to market them well enough, especially since you don’t have big stars. That’s where we fail — because mostly only a small section of people who follow the prestige of it going to an international film festival, know about a film,” she elaborates.

Last year, Stolen, directed by debutant Karan Tejpal, was the only Indian film selected for a World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival. This selection came after a notable three-year absence of Indian films from the festival’s lineup. The film has since travelled to more than 30 film festivals but still it struggles to get a release in India.

“We wanted to go directly to OTT, since we don’t have access to the kind of funding that is required to market and release a film in India. But the pandemic changed it all and the market has suddenly dried up. Maybe we’ll partner with a bigger production house to present the film,” says Tejpal.

They get standing ovations, prizes and glowing critical acclaim. But why are distributors and OTT platforms not enthusiastic about smaller films?

Nandita Das-directed Zwigato travelled to multiple film festivals over the world before releasing in India in March 2023, to a positive response. But the film has struggled to find a home on a streaming platform.

“We got an amazing response [for Zwigato] not only at A-list festivals like the ones in Toronto and Busan but also from Indian media and the few who saw it in theatres. Yet, we wait for an OTT release. The perception is that films with a unique voice and no mainstream tropes do not have an audience. Barring very few passionate individual producers, hardly anyone supports them.

Censorship remains another significant hurdle, with outdated regulations under The Cinematograph Act (1952) posing challenges to films that defy conventional narratives. In the past, Fire (1996), Hawa Aaney De (2004) Water (2005), Firaaq (2008) and S Durga (2017) have either struggled to secure a wide release in India or faced obstacles due to their them es, content or controversies surrounding them.

Despite these challenges, Sanaa director Sudhanshu Saria hopes that India’s fantastic run at international festivals — especially in the past few years, with movies such as The Shameless (2024), Sister Midnight (2024), Nirvana Inn (2023), Pebbles (2021) and The Disciple (2020) — “inspires a wave of filmmakers, who were going to give up or not going to work on their passion project, to step out and take that shot”. “I hope it also inspires entrepreneurial distributors to understand that we have a massive audience that is looking for different things,” says Saria.

Nandita Das, who has also helmed critically acclaimed films such as Firaaq (2008) and Manto (2018), remains hopeful of a shift. “We need producers, distributors and platform heads who will have faith and commitment towards diverse stories and ways in which they need to be told. Otherwise, we will keep celebrating the few and far between wins and yet not give the same films the space and respect they deserve in our own country,” she says.