Asian Film Awards 2025: Payal Kapadia's 'All We Imagine As Light' wins Best Film
The 2025 Asian Film Awards, which celebrate the best of Asian cinema, took place on Sunday at the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District.
The film competed against strong contenders like Black Dog (China), Exhuma (South Korea), Teki Cometh (Japan), and Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (Hong Kong).
"Thank you so much to my lead actors -- three incredible artists and human beings. They are the ones who made this film what it is. I'm so happy that we could end our journey here in Hong Kong, a city that has meant a lot to me, watching the amazing films from this city over the years," said Kapadia from the stage inside Hong Kong's gleaming Xiqu Centre, where the ceremony was held.
All We Imagine As Light stars Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam, Anand Sami, and Hridhu Haroon. It follows the story of Prabha, a troubled nurse who receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband, and her young roommate Anu, who seeks intimacy with her boyfriend. Their journey to a beach town forces them to confront their emotions and desires. The film is currently available for streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
Meanwhile, Shahana Goswami won the Best Actress award for her role in Santosh, directed by first-time filmmaker Sandhya Suri. The director also won the Best New Director award.
Goswami, while expressing her gratitude, said, "I'd also like to thank myself. I feel like I'm always under-confident and never give myself enough credit, so I want to thank the Asian Film Awards Academy for giving me this vote of confidence."
Directed by Sandhya Suri, the film stars Shahana as a driven young Hindu widow who inherits her husband's job as a police constable thanks to a government scheme. She finds herself caught up in institutional corruption even as she warms to working with the rough-edged veteran detective Inspector Sharma (Sunita Rajwar) on a brutal murder case involving a teenage girl from the lower-caste Dalit community.
The film is an international co-production between the United Kingdom, India, Germany, and France.
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