A Night of Knowing Nothing

All We Imagine as Light director Payal Kapadia’s debut film is framed by unsent letters to a forbidden lover from a female film student at the Film & Television Institute of India, where Kapadia was once a student. The film evokes the intimate and personal effects of the political climate in contemporary India on its youth. Kapadia’s documentary combines her own material and work shot by fellow students with found footage. A skilful blend of word and image, charting the fractious relationship between a nation’s youth, its rigid caste structures, its families and its far-right government, this immersive and spiritual work makes for an electrifying film.