Cannes 2021: Payal Kapadia's A Night of Knowing Nothing Wins Best Documentary

Mumbai based filmmaker Payal Kapadia's 'A Night of Knowing Nothing' was part of the Directors' Fortnight selection.

Payal Kapadia won the Oeil d'Or for her feature A Night of Knowing Nothing. 

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/ IMDb)

Mumbai-based filmmaker Payal Kapadia's first feature A Night of Knowing Nothing bagged the prestigious Oeil d'Or award for 'Best Documentary' presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2021. The film was up against 27 other documentaries showcased across sections at the festival.

A Night of Knowing Nothing was screened as part of the Directors' Fortnight section which runs alongside the main festival.

Kapadia's film was up against films like Todd Haynes' The Velvet Underground, Andrea Arnold's Cow, Marco Bellocchio's Marx Can Wait, and Rahul Jain's Invisible Demons, among others.

Payal Kapadia is a Film & Television Institute of India FTII alumna. She has also worked on the short film Last Mango Before the Monsoon, and the documentary And What is the Summer Saying. Kapadia’s short film Afternoon Clouds had premiered at Cannes 2017 as a Cinéfondation selection.

This year's Oeil d'Or jury was headed by American documentary producer Ezra Edelman and consisted of French filmmaker Julie Bertuccelli, Franco-American critic Iris Brey, French actor Deborah Fracois, and the IDFA's (International Documentary Film Festival) artistic director Orwa Nyrabia.

The award was announced online by the official Director's Fortnight Twitter handle.

"The Oeil d’Or, the award for best documentary presented at the Cannes Film Festival all sections combined, goes to A NIGHT OF KNOWING NOTHING by Payal Kapadia, a film selected at the Directors’ Fortnight. Our warmest congratulations to Payal Kapadia and the entire film crew!" the tweet read.

A Night of Knowing Nothing follows the story of a university student in India who sends letters to her estranged lover.

The logline on the official website of the Director's Fortnight reads, "Through these letters, we get a glimpse into the drastic changes taking place around her. Merging reality with fiction, dreams, memories, fantasies and anxieties, an amorphous narrative unfolds."