Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light is on a winning streak this year. After bagging the Grand Prix award at Cannes, it was recently named the best international feature at Gotham Awards. Now, Payal has been nominated for the Best Director category at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards and the film has secured a nom in the Best Motion Picture in a Non-English Language category.

Reacting to the news Payal stated, “I’m deeply honoured by this nomination and grateful to the HFPA for this recognition. This is a celebration of everyone who worked so passionately on the film. To everyone in India, All We Imagine as Light is still in theatres, please go watch it and support us!”

Filmmakers and actors also congratulated the team on social media. Laapataa Ladies director, Kiran Rao wrote on Instagram Stories, “Christmas has come early this year! Brava, Payal!” Divya Prabha, who is a part of AWIAL shared her story and added, “Let’s celebrate this together”. Anil Kapoor called it “what a monumental recognition of Indian cinema and storytelling prowess of Payal Kapadia. So incredibly proud!”

The film will be competing with Emilia Pérez, The Girl with the Needle, I’m Still Here, The Seed of the Sacred Fig and Vermiglio in the Best Motion Picture in a Non-English Language category. Earlier, Shekhar Kapur was nominated in the Best Direction – Motion Picture category at the 1999 Globes for Elizabeth. – Inputs by Mihir Bhanage

Emilia Pérez is leading the noms list with 10 nods. The Brutalist (7), Conclave (6), Anora (5) and Wicked (4) will be among the other films contending for the top prizes. In the TV space, The Bear, Shogun, Only Murders in the Building and Baby Reindeer are among the top contenders for key categories.

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Payal Kapadia has scripted history at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards by becoming the first Indian director to be nominated in the Best Director— Motion Picture category. She was nominated for her debut fiction feature, All We Imagine As Light.

The film also scored a nomination in the Best Motion Picture in a Non-English Language category. The 38-year-old reacted to the nomination and expressed her gratitude in a statement: “I’m deeply honoured by this nomination...This is a celebration of everyone who worked so passionately on the film. To everyone in India, All We Imagine As Light is still in theatres — please go watch it and support us!”

Soon after the announcement, congratulations began pouring in for Kapadia. Actor Anil Kapoor tweeted, “What a monumental recognition of Indian cinema and the storytelling prowess of @PayalKapadia86! So incredibly proud!” Filmmaker Hansal Mehta, who has long supported the movie as India’s “official selection for the Oscars”, too, took to X: “India’s official selection for the Oscars secures 2 nominations at the Golden Globes. Best non-English language film and best director for All We Imagine As Light and Payal Kapadia (sic).”

Director Kiran Rao, whose film badge Laapataa Ladies is the official entry from India in the Best International Film category at the 2025 Oscars, also congratulated Kapadia. She wrote: “Christmas has come early this year... Brava Payal!”

All We Imagine As Light had won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in May, becoming the first Indian film to achieve the milestone. It was also awarded recently at the Gotham Awards.