Sight and Sound reveals best films of the year

Sight and Sound, the BFI’s international film magazine, has announced the results of their Best Films of the Year poll 2024, with ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT, written and directed by Payal Kapadia, taking the coveted top spot, which is voted for by around 100 of the world’s top film critics.

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner, starring Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Chhaya Kadam, was the first Indian film to be selected in Official Competition at Cannes in three decades and is currently on release in UK and Irish cinemas via BFI Distribution. An Indian feature with the look and feel of a European arthouse classic, exploring the complexities of female friendship, this beautiful, sweeping, emotional film brilliantly captures the frantic pace, the vibrant colours and the heady atmosphere of modern Mumbai. 

Director Payal Kapadia said: “When I was at film school, at The Film & Television Institute of India, we used to get a copy of Sight and Sound. We were all excited when the new edition came out and would clamour to read it. The magazine and its writers hold a special place in every cinephile’s heart, so to have my film, All We Imagine as Light at No. 1 in The Best Films of the Year Poll for 2024 is very special to me.”

Sight and Sound Managing Editor Isabel Stevens commented: “Watching All We Imagine as Light at Cannes – even before it won the Grand Prix – confirmed for us at Sight and Sound that its director, Payal Kapadia, is a vital artistic voice in cinema right now. So we’re thrilled that her film has topped our 2024 poll. The way Kapadia marshals the tools of cinema – sound, music, performances, cinematography and how she mixes fiction and documentary – to conjure a singular lyrical atmosphere of desire and yearning really make her stand out. This film makes you look again at the world around you to find beauty in unexpected everyday things and places. Our poll is packed with original, independent and foreign-language films and in fact, all the films in our top ten are proof that there is a world of thriving and exhilarating independent cinema beyond the big studio franchises.”

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT has been on a spectacular journey since it premiered at Cannes in May, when Payal Kapadia made history as the first female Indian filmmaker ever to have a film screen in the Festival’s Official Competition section. After dancing down the red carpet, the director and her cast saw the film receive an eight-minute standing ovation; worldwide critical acclaim and 5-star reviews followed. The film has gone on to screen at festivals around the world, including a Special Presentation at the BFI London Film Festival and has sold to multiple territories internationally, including the US and India. Earlier this week it won Best International Feature at the Gotham Awards (New York), followed by the New York Film Critics Circle 2024 and is similarly nominated in the same category at this weekend’s British Independent Film Awards (BIFA). 

First and second features play a big part in this year’s poll, with work from emerging filmmakers making a big impression with voters. Directors whose first or second feature make the top 50 include: Payal Kapadia (ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT, 1), Mati Diop (DAHOMEY, 4), Rose Glass (LOVE LIES BLEEDING, =7), Coralie Fargeat (THE SUBSTANCE, =7), Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (NO OTHER LAND, 9), RaMell Ross (NICKEL BOYS, 10), Annie Baker (JANET PLANET, =14), Alexander Horwarth (HENRY FONDA FOR PRESIDENT, =21), Rich Peppiat (KNEECAP, =25), Rungano Nyoni (ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL, =25), Matthew Rankin (UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, =25) and Déa Kulumbegashvili (APRIL, =41). Meanwhile, the list celebrates a wealth of international talent with films from every continent (aside from Antarctica), featured in the Top 50, with almost 30 different languages spoken across these 50 films.