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Indian director Payal Kapadia’s documentary wins award at TIFF
Indian director Payal Kapadia’s documentary ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing’ was among the three Amplify Voice awardees at TIFF, with these prizes aimed at celebrating diversity in cinema.
Indian director Payal Kapadia’s debut feature-length project A Night of Knowing Nothing was among the award winners at the 46th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) which concluded on Saturday.
Mumbai-based Payal Kapadia’s documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing was among the three Amplify Voice awardees, with these prizes aimed at celebrating diversity in cinema.
“Payal Kapadia’s unique documentary balances the personal and political with a surprising snapshot of her home country. Shocking at times, but also sweeping in its beauty, A Night of Knowing Nothing is a first feature that already demonstrates her strong voice as a filmmaker,” the award citation stated.
Indian director Payal Kapadia had earlier directed the short films Afternoon Clouds in 2017 and And What Is the Summer Saying the next year.
TIFF programmer Andrea Picard had described the film as “One of the year’s most electrifying debuts” and “a fever dream of impossible love tied to a broader reflection on contemporary India.”
The film had earlier won the best documentary award at Cannes.
The other awards in this category went to Somali director Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s The Gravedigger’s Wife and Canadian Rhayne Vermette’s Ste. Anne.
TIFF also announced its major honours on Saturday evening, with the People’s Choice Award going to British director Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast. This particular award is often a harbinger of Oscars, as in the case of the 2020 winner Nomadland, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture this year.
While the People’s Choice Award is based on voting by the viewing public, TIFF’s competitive programme, based on selection by a jury, is the Platform Prize. This was awarded to Indonesian director Kamila Andini’s Yuni.
The jury statement explaining the choice said this was a “film that brings a fresh, intimate perspective to a coming-of-age story, marked by a subtle structure, delicate framing, and lush cinematography”.
