Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia's new film unfolds at cannes

Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia's new film opens with street scenes of contemporary Mumbai. But All We Imagine as Light does not show us the rich, elite Mumbai of Bollywood stars and billionaire industrialists. Instead the filmmaker overlays the street images with voices of real immigrants of Mumbai who are the city's heartbeat. This is Kapadia's first narrative feature and it premiered on Thursday night in the main competition section of the Cannes Film Festival. The film received an eight-minute-long standing ovation.

It's a significant achievement for the filmmaker, and also for India. This is the first time in 30 years that an Indian film has played in Cannes' main competition section. Kapadia, 38, shares the limelight and the possibility of winning one of the festival's prestigious awards with the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Yorgos Lanthimos, Ali Abbasi, Jacques Audiard, and Jia Zhangke. Over the last four decades, Indian films have done fairly well on the world festival circuit.

Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay won the Camera d'Or at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. A few days before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Nair's 2001 classic Monsoon Wedding won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Director Ritesh Batra's 2013 celebrated film The Lunchbox won the Grand Golden Rail Award at Cannes. And earlier this year director Shuchi Talati's Girls Will Be Girls was awarded the Grand Jury and Audience prizes at the Sundance Film Festival. But the possibility of Palm d'Or or one of the other key Cannes awards has so far eluded India – the biggest film producing country in the world. This year, thanks to Kapadia's beautifully realized and moving film, India stands a good chance of winning.

Already the reviews have been full of high praise. The Guardian in its five-star review describes it as "glorious… an absorbing story full of humanity". The critic puts the film on a par with Satyajit Ray's Mahanagar (The Big City) and Aranyer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest). And IndieWire in its A-grade review says Kapadia's drama gives Mumbai a romantic gaze, as reflected in the way "people occupy their space… whether alone or sharing".