Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia is set to return to the Cannes Film Festival, this time as a member of its prestigious international jury, festival organisers announced on Monday.

Her appointment follows a landmark year in 2024 when she won the Grand Prix for her debut feature, All We Imagine As Light — a poignant exploration of female friendship and longing set in Mumbai. The film marked a significant moment in Indian cinema, becoming the first Indian entry in the Cannes Competition in over three decades.

A graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Kapadia is no stranger to Cannes. Her journey began with her short film Afternoon Clouds in 2017 at the Cannes La Cinefondation section, followed by the award-winning documentary A Night of Knowing Nothing, which won the L'Œil d'or (Golden Eye) for Best Documentary in 2021.

Kapadia joins an esteemed panel for the 78th edition of the festival, to be presided over by celebrated French actor Juliette Binoche. The jury also features American actor and director Halle Berry, Italian actor Alba Rohrwacher, French-Moroccan writer Leila Slimani, Congolese filmmaker Dieudo Hamadi, Korean director Hong Sangsoo, Mexican auteur Carlos Reygadas, and American actor Jeremy Strong. Together, they will award the coveted Palme d'Or to one of the 21 films in Competition, with the winners to be announced at the closing ceremony on 24 May.

Juliette Binoche, known for her distinguished filmography including The English Patient, Three Colours: Blue, and Chocolat, brings decades of cinematic excellence to the jury presidency. Kapadia now joins the ranks of several notable Indian figures who have served on the Cannes jury, including Mrinal Sen, Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapur, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Nandita Das, Sharmila Tagore, Vidya Balan, and Deepika Padukone.