On the global film map

A final year student from Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Payal Kapadia’s 13-minute short film, Afternoon Clouds, was the only Indian film as the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Payal spent her formative years in Chittoor district and Hyderabad. “My parents sent me to Rishi Valley (boarding school) near Madanapalle, Chittoor district. I did my schooling there for 10 years, and it was the best time of my life!  It was at this stage that I had developed the knack of getting into arts. I moved to Hyderabad soon after and then to Pune to pursue a film course.”

Afternoon Clouds was also one of the 16 contenders in the Cinefondation category for film schools across the world. The film, which is about a 60-year-old widow, who lives in Mumbai with her Nepali maid, was selected from a field of 2,600 film school submissions.

“I was very surprised and was not aware that my institute had sent the film to the festival,” she reveals, adding, “It is a big honour for me and I feel privileged to have been selected by such a prestigious festival of world cinema. It further strengthens my confidence on the fact that content is the key. I have two more short films to work on as part of my curriculum, after which I shall write a feature.”

However, the journey hasn’t been easy for Payal. “The film has been made in FTII as my student project. It was a huge challenge to shoot the entire film inside a studio and not shoot at actual locations. However,

it was also very exciting as it provided me with an opportunity to try things that are not possible on actual locations. It was a learning experience.”

Describing her Cannes experience, she says, “It takes a lot of effort to feel comfortable in the hectic Cannes environment. But I was able to meet and talk to a lot of people on their perspective about cinema and how they approach their work. These interactions were very insightful.”